So, when I requested this book, I actually missed that it was written for teenagers, whoops, but despite the slightly different approach for the audience this was a fascinating book. Author Seema Yasmin's credentials alone are impressively intimidating but she really makes theories and biases and fake news accessible. I personally loved that she went into the historic roots of America's newspapers and worked her way back as it was enlightening and engaging reading. Yasmin also discusses how other countries use misinformation to further fan the flames of political rifts in the US as well as how believable fake news can squeak through. She also made a very compelling case that no news is unbiased as there is no way for a journalist to effectively check all biases at the door and advocated for listening to news from both sides for a balance and to challenge one's own biases -brilliant.

As I said this is written for teens, so the only chapter that really dragged for me was the last one on how to effectively communicate without being confrontational with those of differing opinions. This seemed a bit overly detailed but I'm not the target audience. I learned a lot and enjoyed being challenged in the way I inherently look at things and my own biases. An enlightening and enjoyable read.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I didn't get a chance to finish it before it expired on my shelf but it was so good I went and checked it out at the library to finish it.

Any book that helps young readers to be more discerning, to understand the legitimacy of what they read, it worth it. Yasmin walks the reader through evaluating information, resources, and language use. And most importantly to ask questions. To interrogate everything we are told. The text is very readable and the tone conversational.

What The Fact is such an excellent research tool. While its target audience is primarily young adults, it is an effective and entertaining research tool for all ages, especially in this age of disinformation. So many individuals are having a difficult time parsing through vast amounts of information from social media. It is simply well done.

This guide to separating fact from fiction and information from misinformation teaches skills to counteract the abundance of untruths on social media platforms and make effective arguments.

This book was interesting and very well-written. I would likely want to read more from this author and will recommend this to friends.

WHAT THE FACT? by Seema Yasmin is a work about Media Literacy whose main goal is to instruct regarding "Finding the Truth in All the Noise." That is a much-needed and admirable goal, but unfortunately, I feel that this title falls a bit short. My main concern is that the preview at least seems very dense and therefore not all that engaging for young people and students. It does have a few memorable illustrations (one refers to diversity in newsrooms and amongst readers) and could have benefited from more. Roughly ten percent of the text is devoted to helpful sources and notes. I am curious to see a print version, particularly since both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly gave WHAT THE FACT? a starred review. Other related titles that we have purchased include Renee Hobbs' Media Literacy in Action and Megan Fromm's Student Journalism & Media Literacy as well as several texts about critical thinking.

This a nice little nonfiction book about information literacy, the history of news, and the science behind why we believe what we believe.

I enjoyed it a fair bit, and I think a lot of people could take some good information out if it. I particularly liked that Dr. Yasmin gives strategies on how to try to approach a loved one who is being led astray by false narratives.

However, I did find the tone to be inconsistent.