SuperQuesters is a unique blend of adventure stories and expertly designed quests for children aged 5+ to develop their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills in exciting new ways.

Each book has its own overarching theme: 

SuperQuesters: The Case of the Stolen Sun - Aviation

"an engaging story with beautiful illustrations, but it is also a great way to introduce kids to a range of STEM activities in a fun and accessible way. The unique aspect of this book is the interactive nature. Each chapter has an activity that corresponds to the task the characters have to complete, akin to a video game. There is an excellent range of activities so there is no risk of it feeling repetitive and the use of stickers is a great way to make the reading experience more interact and suit kinaesthetic learners."  Victoria McCormick, a member of our Teacher Review Panel

SuperQuesters: The Case of the Missing Memory - Robotics and Memory

"What a super idea this book is. The promotion of STEM in schools has been a popular topic for a number of years, but to have such a fun and interactive approach for young children is an inspired idea. Each quest cleverly covers an aspect of STEM, coding, problem solving, sorting, spatial awareness and other thinking skills. The bright, colourful pages, with illustrations by Amy Willcox, make each quest a fun yet educational challenge."  Rosie Watch, LoveReading4Schools Expert Reviewer

SuperQuesters: The Case of the Great Energy Robbery - Renewable Energy

"This is a really fun book. The story focuses on environmental issues and renewable energy sources. It is a good introduction to these subjects and is thought provoking. The adventure style story and the interactive, problem solving activities keep the book exciting and fun. The book has a good balance between story telling and activities. There are 8 interactive quests to complete and the book comes with over 100 stickers." Ayla, one of our Kids Reader Review Panel members, aged 6

SuperQuesters: The Case of the Angry Sea - Water Pollution and Recycling

"The SuperQuesters series has been designed by industry experts to develop children’s STEM skills and knowledge in fun and creative ways. Colourful and bold illustrations bring the story to life, whilst depicting ethnically diverse characters and positive representations of women and girls in STEM. Over 100 reusable stickers are included at the back of the book, these are used to aid and reward successful quests. There is also a comprehensive glossary that introduces key STEM vocabulary and additional online resources available." Amy McKay, LoveReading4Schools Editorial Expert

With each book children join the SuperQuesters - Lillicorn, Leo Zoom and Bea Bumble - as they journey to Questland. Each quest they complete, helps the reader and the SuperQuesters get one step closer to stopping the dastardly villain, Lord Grumble, as well as teaching them more about the theme. 

Fun, unique and thought-provoking, children and parents love the series especially as children can read the books independently or enjoy them with their parents or siblings. 

LoveReading4Kids was lucky enough to be able to ask co-author of SuperQuesters, Dr Thomas Bernard, some questions about the four books in the series and what is next for the SuperQuesters.

Q. The SuperQuesters books are brilliant ways to connect children with STEM subjects in a fun and interactive way. Are you on a mission to share your passion for STEM and how did this start?

A. Both Lisa and I have always had a passion for STEM learning, which started from a young age. We were fortunate enough to have family members and teachers who helped to nurture this along the way. As a young child I would spend my summer vacations tinkering with my grandfather in France running experiments using different materials found around the house and on the farm where he lived. This helped to spark my curiosity in science and eventually led to me pursuing degrees in mathematics, physics, engineering and a PhD in computer engineering, followed by a career in the tech industry. A few years after our twin daughters were born, Lisa and I started to look for ways to begin nurturing and developing their curiosity and initial interest in STEM learning. We found a lack of options available at the time especially for younger children. And most of the options that were available were limited and depicted stereotypical lead characters or role models such as young boys in a white lab coat. This really struck a chord with us, we felt it was time for all young children to see that STEM is something for them regardless of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background or abilities.

This was the starting point for QuestFriendz, children’s publishing company and our overarching mission to help make STEM learning exciting and accessible to ALL children.

Q. Can you tell us a little about the books and the concept behind them?

The SuperQuesters series immerses children in exciting STEM learning adventures, combining adventure stories with an educational non-fiction twist. The first four books in the series combine storytelling with interactive hands-on learning, each picture book features over 100 reusable stickers, a reward chart, glossary and fun facts.

Whilst reading each story, children develop over 12 different STEM skills including problem solving, coding, logic and sequencing as they complete each interactive quest/puzzle. The books are carefully designed with cross-curricular learning opportunities in mind, offering links between science, environmental studies, computing and maths. The books are also designed to support the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and for use within the home (either independently or shared with a parent, sibling or friend) or within an educational setting (either in the classroom or an after-school club).

Our aim is to spark a love of STEM learning from a young age, by making it fun and accessible to all young children.

Q. Where did the original idea of the SuperQuesters characters come from?

A. The original idea for the SuperQuesters characters (Lillicorn, Bea Bumble and Leo Zoom) came during family time fun around the dinner table. Lilli (Lillicorn) was originally created by our daughters. They are tri-lingual girls with an extreme love and fascination for unicorns. For the longest time during the early years, they would confuse the word unicorn across the three languages and created their own word “Lillicorn” which is a cross between unicorn, Licorne (French) and Eenhoorn (Dutch). Bea (Bumble) was created to provide incredible invention ideas whilst looking for creative solutions. She is a master problem-solver. Leo (Zoom) is based on me.  I love maths, computer science and all things tech. Leo and I also share a passion for aviation and space travel, but I live vicariously through Leo Zoom as I suffer from vertigo!

Q. Can you describe SuperQuesters series in three words?  

A. Adventurous, Magical, Fun!

Q. As well as learning STEM skills, each book in the series focuses on a big topic. What can readers expect to learn from the stories?

A. We wanted to make each of the adventures engaging and fun, and inspire the young reader to leave the stories excited to discuss and explore a STEM related topic or subject. In The Case of the Stolen Sun, we focus on the science behind hot air balloons as the SuperQuesters try to work out how a hot air balloon goes up in the air. The Case of the Missing Memory, it is about computer memory and robotics. While The Case of The Great Energy Robbery and The Case of the Angry Sea both focus on environmental issues introducing readers to renewable energy, water pollution, recycling and caring for our environment. Each story encourages children and their grown-ups to start speaking and thinking about the topics together. By making these big subjects an integral part of the exciting, adventure story, we aim to make the theme accessible even for the most reluctant readers. There are also an assortment of fun science facts included throughout the books and a glossary at the end to help expand children's vocabulary. 

Q. You are now publishing the fourth book in the SuperQuesters series - have you learnt a lot about the publishing process and what are the challenges of producing your own books?

A. We have learnt a lot over the past few years about the publishing industry. As both Lisa and I come from the tech industry, one of our first observations was just how long the publishing process takes! Coming from the fast paced tech industry where things often move and change quite rapidly, it has taken some time to get used to this. As well, there are so many experts needed to publish high quality children’s books. Like most parents, I didn't realise this until I got involved with the publishing industry. We overcame this challenge by finding a world class team to help us on our journey. We also developed some initial books that were not part of the SuperQuesters series, to test market our concept and learn about the industry before launching QuestFriendz as a new publisher in the UK market. This was an invaluable part of the learning process.

Q. Tell us a bit about the team behind the SuperQuesters books.

A. The SuperQuesters books are created and brought to market by an amazing team of publishing industry experts ranging from publishing advisors to specialists covering marketing, pr and social media, along with experts in book development covering creative direction, illustrations, design, editorial and educational advice.  All who share a common passion to help make STEM learning accessible to all children.

Q. Do you have plans for further books in the series?

A. QuestFriendz is developing a young fiction series which we are very excited about. We are working with a new SuperQuesters author – news to be released later in 2024!

Find out more about the SuperQuesters series, and access free activity sheets and supporting classroom materials, lesson plan guides and extra downloadable stickers.  www.questfriendz.com

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Dive into all 4 books in the SuperQuesters Series below, with reviews from our editorial experts, extracts, activity pages and reviews from our Kids and Teacher Review Panels.