Did Fleming Rescue Churchill?

Did Fleming rescue Churchill? A research puzzle
by James Cross Giblin
Henry Holt, 2008

Genre: Mystery

Honors:

• Booklist 03/15/08
• Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 05/01/08
• Horn Book 10/01/08
• Kirkus Reviews 04/01/08
• Library Media Connection starred 03/01/09
• School Library Journal 04/01/08
• Wilson's Children 10/01/10

Review: Jason loses his chance to choose a scientist to study when he has to miss school for a dentist appointment. When he finds out he is stuck with Alexander Fleming, who seems to be the most boring subject possible, Jason asks his teacher for advice in conducting research. When she suggests he look beyond the usual reference materials available in the library, for an interesting story about Fleming's life, Jason decides to use a search tool on the Internet and, in doing so, he uncovers a fascinating tale involving Fleming and Winston Churchill. The only problem: any story he includes in his research paper must be verifiable as true, but unless Jason uses some critical searching and fact checking online, he risks both a bad grade and the label of plagiarist. Written in the style of a detective novel, Jason describes the tools he uses and his methods of deductive reasoning to get to the bottom of the mystery of whether or not Alexander Fleming rescued Winston Churchill when he fell into a bog and was rewarded by Churchill's wealthy father.

Opinion: One of the neat things about this story is that it is based on an actual myth Giblin himself uncovered and researched. All one has to do to retrace the story in real life is to conduct a search engine query using the two names involved in the mystery. Giblin also provides links to the original conflicting stories that Jason finds in the book. Overall it is not a particularly exciting read (as one 9-year-old reviewer on Amazon noted, why would anyone want to read a story about a kid doing research?); however, there are some useful, and fairly subtle, lessons about being a critical, cautious researcher when using the Internet. There are also some handy tips for using other print resources such as encyclopedias. I found, while working with middle school-aged youth, that reference tools are often not well taught to this age group.

Ideas: As I've already mentioned, it is important to teach older children and teens how to use reference tools effectively. This book can serve as a great starting point for lessons about using dictionaries, almanacs, encyclopedia series--even wikis and online databases. The important thing to emphasize is how to assess the credibility of sources used for research.