Hale & Iremonger, 2011

Sophia’s Question is a story of self-discovery. Sophia is given an old bracelet and is told to ask her grandmother about its three mysterious charms. So begins a journey in which Sophia attempts to discover what turns out to be a family secret, a secret upon which her very existence depends. Driven by a strong desire for self-determination, Sophia is searching for identity. This philosophical novel is a starting point for moral inquiry. Together with its accompanying teacher resource book, it is designed to help develop inquiring young readers and shows how to encourage questioning, conceptual exploration and reasoning to explore issues and ideas.

Companion resource:

Hale & Iremonger, 1993

This companion to Sophia’s Question is designed to help the teacher develop an inquiring classroom community, in which students use questioning, justification, conceptual exploration and reasoning to explore issues and ideas together. To assist in this process, the Teacher Resource Book contains a guide to classroom practice and a thinker’s toolkit, as well as introductions to the topics covered in Sophia’s Question, together with discussion plans, exercises and activities that teachers can use to help students explore them.