Picket Fence Post

I previously heaped praise upon two books — The Daring Book for Girls and The Dangerous Book for Boys – which remind me of the good old days when kids played outside without parental interference and didn’t come back home until it was dark out. The publishers of both books recently released new pocket versions of each, focusing on “Things to Do.”

When they arrived at the Picket Fence Post HQ, I decided that instead of having me wax nostalgic about making God’s Eyes out of yarn and sticks during summer camp and playing lively games of SPUD until dusk, I’d turn to my two resident experts to see what they think. I gave my nearly 10-year-old twins — The Girl and The Eldest Boy — copies of the pocket editions and a stack of Post-It notes with instructions to put sticky notes on suggested activities they liked or didn’t like. I then sat down with each child individually. Below are the interviews.

The Daring Book for Girls

Lemonade Stand: When I asked the Hannah Montana/High School Musical/sporty/Manny Ramirez loving girl what she liked from Daring, the first thing that caught her eye was the entry on how to make and run a lemonade stand. “If you ever want to earn money, here’s a fun way to do it,” she said, sounding as though she’d been paid off by the book’s publisher. “If you want to earn money, it’s not a boring way to do it, like chores.”

What ideas did the book give her about setting up lemonade stands? “When I pictured doing a lemonade stand, I just thought of lemonade and cookies, but this had different ways to draw attention,” she said, noting that she was intrigued by suggestions to dress up the stand with decorations and music. (Can you say, “The Best of Both Worlds” crankin’ in our ‘hood?)

Frying An Egg on Sidewalk: “I thought it was fun, but weird. You need to live in a warm place where there’s a lot of sun on the sidewalk to do it,” The Girl said, adding that the book had explanations about why this “odd but fun” activity would or wouldn’t work under certain conditions.

How to Be a Spy: “It says the word ’spy’ comes from ancient words . . . I don’t really get that, but I spy a lot around my house,” she said (*mother tries to camouflage her concern as to exactly what her child has discovered during her covert ops*). “. . . It gives me different ways to make codes that my brothers wouldn’t get, but I could teach my friends and they have siblings who they’d want to fake out.”

How to Run Faster: This was the only item The Girl singled out as something she did not like in the book. Why? “It’s kind of like cheating because it doesn’t really matter how fast you run as a kid . . . until, like, high school,” she said.

Her Overall Assessment: “I think it was pretty good,” she said. “It gives girls a lot of fun stuff to do over the summer. If they’re bored, all they have to do is pick up the book and flip to a random page.”

The Dangerous Book for Boys

The Eldest Boy was a bit more thorough in his review of the Dangerous Book for Boys and I admit to being daunted by the number of items onto which he’d applied Post-It notes. The edited version of our interview is below.

Game, Who Am I: The Eldest Boy said he liked the sound of this game which calls for the players to write the name of someone famous onto a paper or Post-It and stick it on top of one another’s heads. Each player can ask the other players yes or no questions to try to figure out whose name is on their noggins. “I think it’s cool because I could put ‘Britney Spears’ on the top of my brother’s head or somebody he doesn’t know, like Albert Einstein,” he said.

Game, Cheat: Think back to your college days. Think of that game with the dice where you were supposed to lie if you didn’t get the right combination of numbers on your roll. This is a card game version of the game, only without the drinking. You play a card game where, if you don’t have the cards you need, you have to bluff your way through the turn. If someone thinks you’re lying, they may call you on it and pay a penalty if they’re wrong. Why did The Eldest Boy pick this as an activity that sounded fun? “You’re allowed to cheat and my brother’s not as smart as me so I can beat him easily,” he said. (Sensing a trend here?)

Making a Bow & (God Help Me) Arrow: As soon as he turned to the section containing instructions on how to make a bow and arrow, The Eldest Boy immediately said, “But I know you’d never let me make it, but I think it’d be cool to hunt squirrels.”

When asked what would he do if he caught a squirrel, he said, “Show it to people, then throw it back into the woods (*pause*) or I could hang it up in the playroom.”

Making a Quill Pen: “I like making a quill pen because they use them in Harry Potter . . . but it’ll take some hard work.”

Making a Go-Cart:“Because I want to have a mini-car,” he said. I asked him if he thought he could tackle those multi-step, semi-complicated directions, and The Eldest Boy said, “I need help from Dad. It would cost, like, about $200, maybe. You need wood, wheels and wire and springy things.”

Making a Slingshot: “I want to be able to catapult people when I’m spying on people.”

“What?” I replied. “You mean a huge slingshot, like one to throw people?”

“No,” he said, looking at me as though I were one fry short of a Happy Meal. “I mean to shoot people with soft balls and things like that.”

Making a battery: This item was a stand-in for the activities The Eldest Boy didn’t like. “Making a battery is stupid because it would cost more than buying a battery because you need to use quarters and stuff,” he said, pointing to the page that bore an illustration of a stack of quarters.

His Overall Review: “I might use it to make things I like, but overall, I think it’s okay. I’d give it a 6 out of 10.”

Immediately after the interview, The Eldest Boy asked me to help him make a slingshot (I turned him down) and started searching the house for supplies. Meanwhile I decided to implement counter-intelligence measures, start wearing protective gear in the event of an errant bow and buy lemonade mix in bulk.

Image credits: Daring Girls web site and Harper Collins web site.