REVIEW: Get Daring and Dangerous

No, I don't have kids yet, but when I do, I hope these will be their favorite books. I wish I'd had these books when I was a kid. Heck, I'll read them and use them even now!

The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls are childhood manuals which, as USAToday writes, "strike a chord among parents who have a nostalgic/retro longing to share with their own kids the same kind of good, old-fashioned creative play, both indoor and outdoor, that they grew up doing."

The boys' version was a surprise best-seller in England. According the writers/brothers, the book is a collection of things they to know more about when they were boys, back in the days when children weren't allowed to be inside as long as the sun was shining. They write, "You’ll find famous battles in these pages, insects and dinosaurs—as well as essential Shakespeare quotes, how to cut flint heads for a bow and arrow, and instructions on making the best paper airplane in the world. How do latitude and longitude work? How do you make secret ink, or send the cipher that Julius Caesar used with his generals? You’ll find the answers inside."

And while the girls' version was released later, written by another pair of co-authors, it is just as useful and intriguing and offers the same adventurous spirit. As the back cover states, it's a book designed for "every girl with an independent spirit and nose for trouble." Using this manual, a reader might wear a pink pink sari and friendship bracelet while building a tree swing and contemplating a career as a spy. She'll also find chapters on how to negotiate a salary, change a tire, perfect a cartwheel, and impress friends with facts about real-life princesses and karate kicks. And of course it mentions, "If you can wear heels on a thick carpet, you can do anything."

So, I haven't hardly done more than skim either of these books yet (I let the future hubby take home his version) but I'm writing the review now because I already know I'm going to love them. I think my first chapter will be the one on how to whistle with two fingers ... I've always wanted to learn how to do that!