The Daring Book For Girls [Hardcover]

 

 

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I bought this for my niece, and I must say I'm rather disappointed in it. It lacks all of the wit and charm of the Dangerous Book for Boys and seems as though it would appeal to those children who would prefer an rather dull afternoon rather then the adventures promised. It all feels rather tame, at times even feeing like a book parents want their daughters to read in order to tone them down a bit. For example, in the section on slumber parties it suggests laying out ground rules before a game of truth or dare. Because you know what's really daring? Ground rules. And where the Dangerous Book for Boys had a very funny section on girls, the Daring Book for Girls offers up sage advice that boys can make good friends and like to do things.

It smacks of a publisher realising that they have a hit on their hands and therefore deciding to rush out a sequel. With activities such as flower pressing, thank you note writing, and bracelet making, the truly daring girl is better off reading the book for boys.

I was intrigued by this book's title after reading The Dangerous Book for Boys which provided me with a fun walk down memory lane. Having read that book made me aware that I didn't only play with boys when I was growing up, I also spent many happy hours playing with boys and girls together. Naturally, in those days playing together usually meant doing what the girls wanted to do. Why? They were bigger, smarter, and tougher than we boys were at that age.

My daughters by comparison grew up in a different age when there was much less mixing of the sexes during play. As a result, my daughters missed out on such favorites from my youth as various kinds of tag, four square, paper airplanes, clubhouses, forts, paddling canoes, math tricks, roller skating, card games, simple gymnastics, and various other schoolyard games . . . especially tetherball . . . ah, tetherball! I wish this book had been available then. I would have given it to them.

You cannot assume anything about today's girls and young women so the book covers traditional female favorites (nice handwriting, pressing flowers, jump rope, softball, using a pencil to put up your hair, slumber party games, cloth-covered books, sleep outs, lemonade stand, handclap games, ghost stories, jacks, friendship bracelets, and paper flowers. For those who don't want to feel like they are limited by being females, there are sections on tool kits, knots, building a campfire, reading tide charts, building a scooter, changing a tire, and becoming a spy. There are also sections that would be of value to any child: Robert's Rules of Order, watercolor painting, finance, negotiating a salary, public speaking, vocabulary, yoga, first aid, periodic table of the elements, and playing basketball.

I found myself having a very good time reading the materials. They are well illustrated and interesting.

I didn't have very many quibbles but they were mostly related to condensing material. For example, How to Whistle with Two Fingers starts with "Make a triangle with your pinkies . . . ." Now how can two fingers make a triangle? Beats me. In lists of princesses, some are noted for having gone through a divorce. Surely, there's something more interesting about those princesses than a failed marriage. As a result, I found about 20 percent of the sections weren't too usable because I either couldn't figure out what they were trying to tell me or they were telling me something that no one needs to know. But after all, I'm just a dumb old boy . . . so maybe those smart young girls today can figure it out. I hope so.

I wished the book would have had a few more sections on adventuresome things to do with friends rather than merely social things. A lot of things my daughters did and loved at camp weren't covered.

On behalf of my mother who always kept lots of scrapbooks, I should note that her interest was at least as strong in princes as it was in princesses. This book lacked in princes but does very well with queens and princesses.

I was surprised to see that the many heroines in the Bible weren't represented here in the history of women sections. Now, there were some adventuresome women!

Iggulden's great Dangerous Book for Boys is not paid hommage to by this author...who without actually copying anything is still plagarizing his idea....so smacks more of a reiterizing of the formula for what is undoubtedly a hoped for money making publishing venture. Not that equal time for the "Girls" isn't a good thing...lets just hope that Iggulden will do it right at some point for them instead of this bore.

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1.0 out of 5 stars daringly boring
i agree with the other negative reviewer. this book is trying to milk the success of the dangerous book for boys with content not quite on par with what was in that book. Read more

Published on Dec 23 2007 by elfdart

5.0 out of 5 stars For the rebel in all of us
It's been a daring adventure reading this book, and well worth it. This is a light fun book that's not just for little girls. Read more

Published on Nov 15 2007 by H. Clinton

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