The Dangerous Book for Boys

This book has all sorts of cool ideas in it, from easy, couple-of-hours-with-Junior-type projects to ones that confused the heck out of me. Lots of fun for the hands-on Dad looking for something besides video games to call quality time with his children....

This is a wonderful book, full of gems and the things that enriched our lives in the "good ol' days"...
I was baffled by the reference to gerrymandering being a Republican gimic...
the republican party was not founded until 1854, as an abolishionist party no less...
"In 1812 during the second one-year term of Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. His party--the Democratic or Anti-Federalist Party--redistricted the state legislature to its advantage, and Governor Gerry signed the bill. At the office of the Boston Centinel, when artist Gilbert Stuart sketched some lines on the map of the redistricting to make it look like a salamander, editor Benjamin Russell named the creature a Gerrymander. Stuart's cartoon was widely circulated, and Gerrymander came to mean "to redistrict to political advantage." In keeping with the spelling, it was pronounced with a j sound, even though Gerry pronounced his name with a hard g."
Hope this helps!

I loved the way that the boys in my library clawed their way to the table to look at it when I was done presenting a booktalk on this volume. From taking notes on how to do dog tricks to asking if they could copy the pages on making a go-cart and tree-house they were thrilled with it.


But then the librarian in me came to the last few pages where the authors list favorite books that every boy should read. By boy they obviously mean someone over the age of 15 and that was my first minor problem with this book. I am dealing with elementary/Jr. High boys and while some of these books were appropriate for them, many were just way over their heads and it says right there--more mature readers.

After seeing that, I relooked the book over some more and did come to the conclusion that while it is wonderful, it is probably something that is best enjoyed as a father with his son. Yes there are some great ideas for boys there and yes, I love the idea of getting boys out and just letting them be boys--but I just think it would have been so much better if there had maybe been a couple of books published instead of just one. One that had all the fun things for the boys to do and another that had things like the battles and other more scientific type things that boys can sit and discuss with their Dads. I realize that discussing war is important for all boys, but I just didn't see the mix.

SO in conclusion--great book just wish that they had decided on which age group they were really truly aiming for.

Many, many years ago boys were taught this kind of stuff by their father's and their father's fathers. Boys are no longer introduced to this kind of helpful information. This book is beyond a helpful guide to knot tying and history. It is a well rounded piece of literary art. I have never read a book that teaches one how to build a bow and arrow on one page and how to treat a woman respectfully on the next. My mother, father, husband and 11 year old son were equally interested in this book. That is pretty rare in and of itself.

I bought as a coffee table book - people love to flip through it and end up reading in great depth. Each section is a treasu trove of info.