Who is responsible
The data controller is Evan Larkwell.
Email: evanlarkwell@gmail.com
This notice covers the whole site: the Grown-Up Guide, the page for grown-ups that the code printed in the paperback opens (evanlarkwell.netlify.app/grown-ups) and the game Big Question Islands.
In short
- The online Grown-Up Guide and the game itself work without any sign-up. There are no ads, no analytics and no cookies.
- The code printed in the paperback opens a page for grown-ups first. It asks for the month and year of birth, which your browser checks and never sends to us. Anyone under 18 goes straight to the game and gives nothing. Grown-ups are asked for an email before the game opens. We keep it only as a record of the request and delete that record within 6 months.
- You get the newsletter, a new Big Question every two weeks and news about new books, only if you tick the newsletter box, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
- We never sell your email or share it with anyone for their own marketing.
The page for grown-ups
The age question: your browser compares the month and year you enter with today's date. The answer is never sent to us or stored. Under 18, the browser opens the game and nothing is collected.
What we collect from grown-ups: your email address, your confirmation that you read this notice, your newsletter choice, a note that the age answer was 18 or older (not your date of birth), the date and time of the request, and the IP address and browser details that our host Netlify records with every form submission.
Why: to keep a record that the game was requested from this page by an adult who read this notice, and of the choices made. This is our legitimate interest in showing that the page is used properly (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). We do not write to you unless you tick the newsletter box.
Spam checks: Netlify checks every submission with Akismet, a service of Automattic Inc. This is our legitimate interest in protecting the form from abuse (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Akismet keeps most spam-check data for two weeks to 90 days.
Is the email required? Yes, to continue from this page. If you do not give it, the page does not open the game. The game itself never asks for an email.
How long: we delete the whole form record (email, confirmation, IP address and browser details) within 6 months of your request.
The newsletter (only if you tick the box)
What we keep: your email address and a record of your consent: the date, the time and the wording you agreed to.
Why: to email you a new Big Question every two weeks, with a short answer to talk about with your child, and news about new books by Evan Larkwell. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and Art. 130 of the Italian Privacy Code).
Confirmation: before the first newsletter we will send you one email asking you to confirm. If we have not sent it within 6 months of your request, or you do not confirm within 30 days of receiving it, we delete your email.
Unsubscribing: every newsletter has an unsubscribe link, or you can write to us. Withdrawing consent does not affect what was done before.
How long: until you unsubscribe. When your address moves to the newsletter service, we delete the form record from Netlify within 30 days. If you unsubscribe, we delete your email within 30 days. We keep only the address on a do-not-email list for as long as we send the newsletter, so that we never write to you again, and the record of your consent for 2 years, to prove it if asked (our legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
We send the newsletter with systeme.io, an email service based in France.
The game Big Question Islands
The game is made for children. The game itself has no sign-up, no chat, no ads, no analytics and no cookies, and it never asks for an email. On the certificate screen a child can type a name to print; the name stays on the screen and is never saved or sent.
Local storage: the browser on your device keeps the game progress and, after the page for grown-ups, a short yes/no note that the page was already passed (no email, no date of birth and no age), so it is not shown again. To open faster and to play without internet, it also keeps a copy of the game's own files (the page and the pictures); if you install the game, all of them are saved the first time it opens. These files contain no personal data. Nothing in local storage is ever sent to us. You can delete it by clearing this site's data in your browser, or by uninstalling the game.
Visiting the site
Like every website, our host Netlify, Inc. receives technical data such as the IP address, the browser type and the pages requested, in order to deliver the pages and keep the site secure. Netlify processes these data on our behalf under its Data Processing Agreement. Netlify says it keeps access logs with IP addresses for about 30 days; its Data Processing Agreement allows security logs to be kept up to 90 days online and one year in backups. We do not look at them and never use them to identify, contact or profile visitors. This is our legitimate interest in running a working and secure site (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The fonts and pictures come from this site, not from third parties.
Who receives the data
- Netlify, Inc. (USA): hosting and storage of form submissions, on our behalf.
- Automattic Inc. (USA): Akismet spam checks on form submissions.
- The email service provider for the newsletter, only for people who subscribed.
We do not sell, rent or share email addresses with anyone else.
Transfers outside the EU
Netlify, Inc. and Automattic Inc. are in the United States and take part in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, which the European Commission found adequate on 10 July 2023 (Decision (EU) 2023/1795). The safeguard for the newsletter service will be named here when it is chosen.
Your rights
You can ask to see, correct or delete your data, to limit its use, to receive it in a common format, and to object to its use (Articles 15 to 21 GDPR). Write to evanlarkwell@gmail.com. We reply within one month.
You can object at any time to the use of your email for direct marketing, including the newsletter, and we will stop at once.
Where we rely on our legitimate interests (form records, spam checks, security logs), you can also object at any time, on grounds relating to your particular situation (Art. 21(1) GDPR).
You can withdraw your consent at any time. You can complain to the Italian data protection authority, the Garante per la protezione dei dati personali (garanteprivacy.it), or to the authority of the EU country where you live.
Children
The game collects no personal information from children except the technical data, such as the IP address, that our host Netlify records when a page loads (see "Visiting the site"). These data are used only to deliver the game and keep the site secure. They are never used to contact, profile or advertise to a child, they are not shared with anyone else, and Netlify keeps them only for the limited periods described in "Visiting the site".
On the page for grown-ups, anyone whose age answer is under 18 goes straight to the game and nothing is sent to us. The email form and the newsletter are for adults 18 and older, and we do not knowingly accept them from children. If we learn that a child has sent us an email address, we delete it promptly and never write to it.
A parent can ask us to review or delete any personal information we hold about their child, and to refuse its further collection or use, by writing to evanlarkwell@gmail.com or using the contact details at the top of this notice. We check that the request comes from the parent and reply within 30 days.
Other points
We do not make automated decisions or profiles about anyone. If this notice changes, the date below changes too.
Last updated: 4 October 2026.