The pages follow the order of a real research project. They are split into six chapters, and each chapter covers one step, from asking a question to sharing what you found. The book opens with a title page and the four characters, and it closes with a diploma your child earns.
The six chapters
- The Spark of Curiosity, pages 1 to 10. Noticing and asking questions.
- The Library of Leaves, pages 11 to 25. Reading and finding out what others already know.
- The Great Guess, pages 26 to 40. Brainstorming, predicting, and forming a hypothesis.
- The Adventure Kit, pages 41 to 60. Planning a fair test and choosing tools.
- Counting the Treasure, pages 61 to 80. Charts, graphs, and patterns.
- Telling the Story, pages 81 to 100. Writing, editing, peer review, and presenting.
Each chapter page lists what kids learn, the recommended ages, and a grid of that chapter's coloring pages.
The special pages
A few pages do a different job from the rest:
- Page 1, Title Page. Your child writes their name: "Written by [Your Name] & Colored by YOU!"
- Pages 2 to 5. One page each for Curious Bunny, Professor Hoot, Subby the Robot, and Detail Dog.
- Page 10, Activity Page, and page 24, The Maze. The two interactive pages, where your child draws or solves instead of only coloring. See What are the interactive pages?
- Page 99, Diploma. A "Junior Researcher" frame to color.
- Page 100, Back Cover/End. Subby winks, holding a sign with a QR code drawn on it, and the story line reads "Visit Subthesis.com to start your real project!"
What's on each page's web page
Every page from page 1 to page 100 has the same parts, top to bottom: the artwork, the chapter name, the page title, a one-line story, a short scene description, an "About this page" note for grown-ups, and a "Talk about it while you color" list of questions. Previous and Next links sit at the bottom.
Why this order
I laid the book out this way so the story and the research steps line up. The question your child draws in Curious Bunny's thought bubble on page 10 can be looked up in Chapter 2, turned into a guess in Chapter 3, tested in Chapter 4, counted in Chapter 5, and shared in Chapter 6. For the full walk-through in kid-friendly terms, read From Observation to Publication.