Killer Underwear Invasion!

October 3, 2022
In a useful, funny graphic novel guidebook, Gravel (the Arlo & Pips series) offers examples of how disinformation can prove high-stakes, adversely affecting the environment, democracy, and even individuals’ health. But with vigilance, practice, and some self-awareness (“Never forget that you have confirmation biases,” Gravel writes, providing an easy-to-grasp explanation of this concept), the book shows how readers can navigate disinformation. In six chapters rendered in the creator’s signature cartoon style, a pink creature tutors a blue one—and readers—in why disinformation is so powerful and how it works, explaining that it preys upon vulnerabilities (one character becomes deathly ill after being convinced that shampoo is a cure-all and “doctors are evil”) and offers big economic rewards to those who wield it effectively (“Social media companies want people to stay on their apps because the longer you stay, the more ads you see, and the more ads you click on, the more MONEY the companies make”). A wrap-up includes 10 evaluative tips, from “Check your source” to asking “Is it fact or opinion?” Gravel employs humor and downright goofiness to make this topic feel approachable, profound, and urgent. Ages 8–12. Agent: Lori Nowicki, Painted Words.