By Stephanie Bearce
I'll never forget the moment I discovered bat bombs.
I was deep into research for my Top Secret Files: World War II book, reading through military archives about unusual weapons development. And there it was: a completely serious government project that involved strapping tiny incendiary devices to hibernating Mexican free-tailed bats, loading over a thousand bats into bomb-shaped canisters, dropping them from planes over Japanese cities, and hoping the bats would roost in the wooden buildings before the timers ignited.
My first reaction? "No way.
That can't be true."
My second reaction? "This is
PERFECT."
That's the moment I'm always
hunting for when I write nonfiction. That instant when something is so bizarre,
so unexpected, so absolutely wild that it makes you stop and say, "Wait,
WHAT?" And then you realize it's 100% true.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
Here's the reality we face as
nonfiction authors: we're competing with TikTok, YouTube, video games, and an
endless stream of digital content designed to grab kids' attention in seconds.
A middle-grade reader scrolling through their feed can watch a 30-second video
of someone doing a crazy science experiment, laugh at a meme, and move on to
the next thing before they've even finished reading a single page of text.
So how do we compete? How do we get
kids to not just pick up our books, but actually want to read them?
We need to think like kids. We need
to tap into that child-like sense of wonder that makes them stop mid-scroll and
say "Wow! Gross! No way!" That factor—that visceral reaction of
surprise, disgust, or disbelief—is what gets middle-grade readers to dive into
learning history and science. It's what transforms "I have to read this
for school" into "I want to know what happens next."
If we write nonfiction the way we
learned it in school—dry facts, chronological timelines, "important"
historical figures doing "important" things—we've lost before we've
begun. But if we can make a kid's eyes light up in the first thirty seconds,
make them lean forward and say "Wait, what? Tell me more!"—then we
have a chance. Then we can sneak in all the real learning while they're too
hooked to notice.
The Secret Weapon: Context Kids Don't Have
Here's what most adults forget:
kids don't have the context we do for historical events. When you say
"World War II," most middle-grade readers picture the Allies winning.
They've seen the movies. They know how it ends.
What they don't understand is how
desperate the Allies were. They don't realize that for a significant chunk of
the war, the Nazis were winning. And desperate times led to desperate
measures—which led to some of the most bizarre, creative, and yes, twisted
inventions in history.
That's where the hook lives. Not in
"The Allies developed new weapons technology" (boring), but in
"The Allies were so desperate they literally tried to make bombs out of
bats, rats, and even muffins" (TELL ME MORE).
Let me give you that muffin
example. During WWII, the Office of Strategic Services developed an explosive
compound that looked, felt, and could be baked exactly like flour. They called
it "Aunt Jemima" after the popular pancake mix. Chinese resistance
fighters could smuggle this explosive flour through Japanese checkpoints, and
if questioned, they could literally bake muffins from it and eat them to prove
it was "just flour."
Now, I won't lie to you—eating
explosive flour was ill-advised. One Chinese cook who sampled the first batch
almost died. But after they perfected the formula, the muffins were actually
edible (though not recommended), and fifteen tons of Aunt Jemima explosive
flour was successfully smuggled during the war without the Japanese ever
discovering it.
No kid is going to hear
"explosive muffins" and not want to know more.
Finding Your "No Way" Moment
So how do you find these hooks in
your own research? Here's my process:
1. Research extensively first.
You can't find the weird stuff if you only scratch the surface. I read
everything—academic journals, firsthand accounts, military archives, old
newspapers, obscure websites. The best hooks are usually buried deep in the
footnotes.
2. View everything through a
kid's eyes. I'm constantly asking myself: "Would a 10-year-old think
this is cool?" Not "educational" or "important"—cool.
If it doesn't pass the cool test, it won't hook reluctant readers.
3. Look for what contradicts
expectations. Kids think they know what things are supposed to be like.
Science is in beakers. Weapons look like guns. Communication is for people.
When you can show them fish that use farts to communicate (which is real
science—herring produce underwater sounds by releasing air bubbles from their
swim bladders, and scientists believe it's a form of communication), you've
disrupted their expectations. That's when learning happens.
4. Hunt for the truth that's stranger than fiction. I write both fiction (my Raven Gallows mystery series) and nonfiction, and I can tell you—the true stories are often wilder than anything I could make up. When bats accidentally burned down an entire military airfield during testing because armed bats escaped and roosted under a fuel tank? That's not a joke. That actually happened. No novelist would dare write that because it seems too ridiculous.
5. Go beyond the obvious.
This is crucial. When I wrote the book about burps and farts, I could have just
gone for the gross-out factor and stopped there. But I asked: "What's the science
here? What are researchers actually studying?" That's how I found studies
about fish communication, medical research on digestive gases, and the serious
science behind why we burp and fart. The hook gets kids in the door, but the
real science keeps them reading.
The Context is the Key
Here's the thing about hooks: they
work best when you provide context. Bat bombs are interesting. Bat bombs in
the context of Allied desperation during WWII are fascinating because they
tell a bigger story about human ingenuity, desperation, and the weird ways
people solve problems when everything is on the line.
That's what transforms a weird fact
into a compelling narrative. You're not just sharing trivia—you're giving kids
a window into a moment when adults were trying anything, testing everything,
and pushing boundaries because the stakes were that high.
Try This With Your Own Research
If you're stuck trying to find the
hook in your topic, here's an exercise:
1. List the "expected"
version. Write down what most kids already think they know about your
topic. (Example: "The Allies used planes and tanks to win WWII.")
2. Find five facts that
contradict or expand that assumption. Dig deep. Look in academic databases,
military archives, scientific journals, old newspapers—anywhere that's not the
first page of a Google search.
3. Ask the "no way"
test. Read each fact out loud. Do you have that moment of disbelief? If
you're not surprised, kids won't be either.
4. Find the context. Why did
this happen? What does it tell us about the people, the time period, or the
circumstances? The hook gets kids interested; the context makes them care.
5. Test it on a kid.
Seriously. Tell a 10-year-old about your discovery. If their eyes light up and
they start asking questions, you've found your hook. If they shrug, keep
digging.
The beautiful thing about
nonfiction is that the truth really is out there waiting to be discovered.
Those "no way, that can't be true" moments exist in every topic—you
just have to be willing to dig deep enough to find them. And when you do? That's
when you transform "educational" content into something kids actually
want to read.
Because once you've told them about
the bats, the muffins, and the farting fish, they're hooked. And that's when
real learning begins.
Resources to Spark Your "No Way!"
Moments
Looking for inspiration to find
those twisted, weird, and fascinating hooks in your research? Here are some of
my favorite websites and podcasts that celebrate the strange, the unexpected,
and the "you've got to be kidding me" moments in history and science:
Websites:
Atlas Obscura (https://www.atlasobscura.com/) – A
goldmine of hidden wonders, unusual places, and curious stories from around the
world. Perfect for finding the obscure historical details that make kids stop
and say "wait, what?"
Mental Floss (https://www.mentalfloss.com/) –
Fascinating facts, trivia, and weird history presented in bite-sized, highly
readable formats. Their "Amazing Facts" section is addictive.
Damn Interesting (https://www.damninteresting.com/) –
Long-form articles about obscure true stories from science, history, and
psychology. Every article lives up to the site's name.
Futility Closet (https://www.futilitycloset.com/) –
Over 12,000 entertaining curiosities from history, literature, language, art,
philosophy, and mathematics. Updated daily with the delightfully bizarre.
Roadside America (https://www.roadsideamerica.com/) –
Your guide to weird roadside attractions across the U.S. Great for finding
local oddities and unusual historical artifacts hiding in plain sight.
Podcasts:
No Such Thing as a Fish (https://www.nosuchthingasafish.com/)
– Weekly podcast from the researchers behind the BBC show QI, where each
episode features bizarre and extraordinary facts discovered that week. Over 600
episodes of pure fascinating weirdness.
The Memory Palace (https://thememorypalace.us/) – Short,
beautifully produced historical narratives about forgotten moments and
overlooked figures from America's past. Perfect for seeing how to make history
emotionally resonant.
Happy hunting! These resources have
helped me find countless "no way, that can't be true" moments over
the years. What are your favorite sources for discovering the weird and
wonderful?
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Stephanie Bearce is the author of over 40 books for children, including the Top Secret Files series (eight historical books about spies, secret missions, and hidden facts), the Twisted True Tales from Science series, the Gross Science series, and Mary Anning and Paleontology for Kids. She also writes the Raven Gallows middle-grade mystery series. Stephanie specializes in making history and science irresistible by finding the weird, twisted, secret, and unusual stories that make kids stop and say "No way!" Learn more at stephaniebearce.com.
