When you read a book like this, you have to ask yourself, “How am I currently feeling?” Granted that is for all things read as your mood can affect the way to think and feel about a book/article/etc. But if you are in a good mood The Sad Little Fact by Jonah Winter most likely was a fantastic book about how facts are buried when they do not suit the person/people who are burying them. If you are in a less than good mood mostly like it becomes, “What a preachy little book.” I was someplace in the middle.
There is a lot about this book to love. But it is pushy in getting the theme across. People who probably need this book will not read it. Therefore, I am afraid it will be preaching to the choir for the most part.
By using different shapes (circles, squares, triangles) and basic lines, Pet Oswald’s artwork allows us to see how people, at first, ignore The Sad Little Fact. Stepping over it even. Then, as things progress and “fake facts” come into the picture, people start to finally get worried and The Fact Finders come. They are the ones who will be able to uncover the real facts and make that Sad Fact a Not-So-Sad Fact and just A Fact. There is some humor here (see review title for one of the facts you learn about) that helps lighten the mood.
This is not for children who are literal or for the very young crowd. I was getting out my (never gotten but always wanted) philosophy degree: who is to say this or that fact is real? Yet, there are some facts that cannot be denied. And that is the point of the story. This book makes you think and, depending on your biases, likes and dislikes you will find out which kind of book this was: “Fantastic” or “Preachy” little book.