A Northern Virginia fifth grader pointed out an error in a textbook, taking his science lesson to school and getting national attention for the correction.
Liam Squires and his class at Pearson Elementary School in Fauquier County were reviewing their textbook after a lesson on the rock cycle when he saw a picture labeled sedimentary. The sedimentary rock and igneous rock were labeled incorrectly in the textbook.
“They're flipped," the 10-year-old said. “The labels are flipped.”
He told his teacher, Serena Porter, who couldn't believe it at first.
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"It was just baffling,” she said. “I was like, I didn't even know what to do at that point, like, OK, well, close the book, let's move along,"
She spread word through school administration, and soon, Liam was recognized by the superintendent.
His story made the local Fauquier Times, then The New York Times. Now, the interview requests are piling up.
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Liam understands the excitement.
“Because there were a lot of qualified people to check this kind of thing, I think at least," he said.
Then a handwritten letter from the publisher, Five Ponds Press, arrived in the mail, thanking Liam for finding the error.
“Who knows, maybe one day you will be a geologist studying the Earth," it said. “We are proud of you. Warmly, the Five Ponds Press team."
The publisher admitted its mistake and is helping celebrate Liam.
"It was just fantastic, and I appreciate it, too, because my eyes looked at that page a lot and I didn't see it," Porter said.
