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 enlarge | Authors: Andrea J. Buchanan, Miriam Peskowitz
Publisher: Collins
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy New: $7.94
You Save: $19.01 (71%)
New (65) Used (39) Collectible (3) from $5.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  144 reviews
Sales Rank: 772
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.3
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 7.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0061472573
Dewey Decimal Number: 646.7008342
EAN: 9780061472572
ASIN: 0061472573
Publication Date: November 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Girl's Guidebook November 5, 2007
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
If you are a girl, you probably know how to be a girl, so this book might seem somewhat unnecessary at first. Reading through it's pages, though, you start to feel a sense of fellowship, camaraderie, familiarity. If you are older, you will remember the details nostalgically and sentimentally. If you are younger, you will find this book to be like a good friend who knows how to do everything associated with girls. It is a light, funny, and interesting read, suitable for almost any age. I do, however, think that it's target audience is pre-teen/teenagers, and older "girls" won't feel as connected to it. A really great book for older "girls" though, that came out recently, is A Beautiful Bucket of Bones by M. Luci. It's a love story with all the components of a girly tear-jerker.
Equal to or better than the Boys' book.... November 3, 2007
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
... depending on whether you prefer hunting and tanning (boys) or jump-rope and karate (girls). Much of the content in the Daring Book for Girls is very like the content in the Dangerous Book for Boys, with slight variations which are nice if you happen to have both. If you are a parent wondering whether to buy this for your daughter or go with the boys' book because you think it might be better, rest assured, this one is every bit as fun, adventuresome and fascinating as the boys' book. I have a young daughter and bought the boys' book before I knew there would be a girls' one; now I have them both and side-by-side I can say this one at the very least lives up to its predecessor, and in my opinion surpasses it, although both are excellent.
There are things in this book I'd completely forgotten that I did as a girl. Remember four-square? Elastics? Daisy-chains? Friendship bracelets and hand-clap games? And there are some fascinating tidbits in here, too; did you know Julia Child was a spy before she became a famous TV chef? Who would have thought it? There's a neat section on "Vedic math" tricks, which are something I've always thought amazingly cool and useful. And another neat thing is the international flavor of the book; living in the U.S. but having grown up in New Zealand, it's a real treat to see netball included here among the ball/court games, right between basketball and korfball!!
Really, moms and dads, do your girls a favor and buy this book, it's worth every penny (for the nostalgia factor alone, hehe).
A cute compliment to "Dangerous". November 3, 2007
15 out of 19 found this review helpful
I'm not a girl. I bought this book for myself. I couldn't be more satisfied. These 2 titles have provided me with a nice collection of common references in daily life. Sure this book is geared towards girls with a few topics like friendship bracelets, flower pressing, varying jump rope styles and stitching, but most of the book is quite androgynous with a "women's studies" feel to it (many topics on key individuals and events in the history of women to elaborate). Weather, pirates, sleep outs, building campfires, songs, spying, bird watching, mathematics, first aid, hiking, Robert's Rules, Greek and Latin roots, finance and negotiating salaries!? All simply explained and encyclopedic!? Indeed an interesting read; good basics to know. And I was curious what the topic of boys would get. I'm happy to say it's not too stereotypical. (The advice of ignoring them until they're 25 seemed reputable! Get your doctorate first! Oh how I love a sharp mind!) The only thing I don't really like about these books is the contents don't appear to be in any clear order, but I suppose it makes it more entertaining reading cover to cover and it's not much to fuss over. Definitely recommended for the modest fact/skill junkie.
 Where's the dangerous book for KIDS?? November 2, 2007
139 out of 271 found this review helpful
Oh, I see, boys get to be "dangerous" -- i.e., risk takers -- while girls get to be "daring" -- i.e., taboo breakers, who "dare" to break a rule. And we all know which irrational and constricting cultural taboos and rules are in question here. (You can start with "being smart at math." Or "repeatedly checkmating a boy in chess." Or "refusing to wear dresses or skirts." Or "rough-housing." Or "refusing to defer to men." Or "speaking your mind.") Is this really the message we want to send our kids? Especially when adult working women today are often criticized -- and blamed for their limited financial success relative to men -- specifically for not being "risk takers"? (See, e.g., Lisa Belkin's op-ed in the NY Times online, "Life's Work: The Feminine Critique" (Nov. 1 2007).)
Meanwhile, here are the supposedly "daring" activities for girls to enjoy, as quoted from the Amazon editorial blurb: "female heroes in history [Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Marie Curie, no doubt], secret note-passing skills, science projects, friendship bracelets, double dutch, cats cradle, the perfect cartwheel [but not the perfect fastball or layup, of course] or the eternal mystery of what boys are thinking." I mean, excuse me while I crack open my flight bag!
Then let's compare all that wonderful derring do to the things boys get to enjoy: "Simple instructions for coin tricks and paper airplanes alternate with excerpts from history such as Famous Battles and facts about ancient wonders of the world and astronomy. The dangerous aspect is more apparent in such chapters as Making Cloth Fireproof, and Hunting and Cooking a Rabbit, but also applies to the overall premise that action is fun and can be worth the risks. A section on stickball, for instance, includes advice to possibly flee the vicinity in the event of a broken window."
Why ARE these books so aggressively gendered? Why couldn't the original "dangerous" book have welcomed ALL kids? Why did it have to create a clubhouse with a sign reading "NO GIRLS ALLOWED"? Why is it that knot-tying and paper-airplane-making only take on this hushed aura of holiness when they're used as a means to EXCLUDE someone? And why are girls then offered this pale Women's Auxiliary version? Is this so they'll all grow up and accept everything from the Masters Golf Tournament to 16% representation in the Senate without batting an eye?
If you want to perpetuate the notion that Little Girls are Made of Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice, then by all means by this book -- but don't forget the pretty pink party dress and the black patent Mary Janes.
But if you want to instill an old-fashioned sense of adventure and independence in your kids -- sons and daughters alike -- I highly recommend Arthur Ransome's "Swallows & Amazons," first published in 1930, and all the other books in that series. It's a story in which children - oh, the horror! - actually spend the summer camping out *all by themselves* on an English Lake District island, to which they also sail all by themselves. I can't think of a better role model for girls than the "Amazons," a pair of girl pirates who open the series by capturing the camp of the Swallows and holding them at bay with bow and arrow.
[...]
Wish I had more nieces, granddaughters, friends with girls November 1, 2007
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
I am not "grown up" enough to be a grandmother or young enough to be a mother again, but I wish I was! Having thumbed through this delightful book (filled with memories and great girl ideas), I want to buy as many copies as I can find receipients on my holiday, birthday lists. Fun, information and "girl-pride" just burst forth. Delightful illustrations.
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