The stories behind the stuff you know
Why are school buses yellow? Who invented the popsicle? Why does your own voice sound so strange in recordings? The answers are out there — in patent filings, newspaper archives, museum records — and they’re almost always better than the myth. FYI Tales exists to dig them up and tell them right.
The name works twice, and we mean both:
- For your information — our True Tales: short, researched, sourced stories about ordinary things. New tales every week, always free.
- From your imagination — our Your Tales storybooks: your kid’s own drawing, turned into the hero of their own illustrated story.
Our promise: sourced, or it doesn’t run
Every tale on this site cites where it came from — primary documents when they exist, authoritative institutions when they don’t. When historians genuinely disagree (looking at you, Earl of Sandwich), we tell you that too, because the dispute is usually the best part of the story. Read the full fact-checking policy, and if we ever get one wrong, tell us — we correct in public.
For the curious kids
FYI Tales Jr. takes the same amazing true facts and rewrites them for readers age 6–10 — plus free printables for parents and teachers. It’s the part of the site built for the kid who asks “why?” nine times in a row. We think that kid is exactly right.
Who’s behind this
FYI Tales is a GTStudios project, written and researched by humans who fall down archival rabbit holes so you don’t have to. The owl doesn’t have a name yet. We’re taking suggestions.