Book Review: The Daring Book for Girls

After The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden (Collins, 2007) soared up the bestseller lists, it was inevitable that HarperCollins would release an equivalent book for girls that is also popular with adults.

Published in 2007, The Daring Book for Girls (Collins, 2007) by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz is reminiscent of the Girls Own Annuals and Rainy Day Books that were popular in the 1940s and 50s. This updated version is more suited to the girls of today, with less emphasis on limiting girls to modest indoor pursuits and a definite leaning towards adventure.

Games and Activities for Girls

The Daring Book for Girls has a wide range of games and activities for girls. Some of them are still commonly in use by girls in school playgrounds such as hopscotch, jacks, jump rope and cartwheels. Other activities like pressing flowers or making daisy chains, ivy crowns, willow whistles and peach pit rings seem to belong more to their grandmothers’ time, but are still enjoyable to girls today. There is encouragement for girls to try both traditional and modern activities and pursuits. There are activities for girls who like the outdoors, such as bird watching, roller skating, building a scooter or tree swing, making a fishing net, hiking and sleep outs. There are also ideas and instructions for indoor activities like card games and making friendship bracelets and God’s eyes. Mothers will recognise some old favourite slumber party games, campfire songs and ghost stories as well.

Facts and Information

The Daring Book for Girls doesn’t assume that girls don’t like history, science and sport. Indeed it inspires them with histories of famous women inventors and scientists, explorers, Olympians and ancient Queens, as well as female pirates and spies. There are pages devoted to scientific pursuits – weather facts, making a lemon powered clock, the periodic table, uses of vinegar and baking soda, making a flashlight and reading tide charts. There are rules for various sports played by girls, including basketball, netball, darts, bowling, water polo and softball.

As with The Dangerous Book for Boys, there are chapters included with lists and general knowledge topics that might specifically appeal to girls – South Sea islands, Greek and Latin root words, books “that will change your life”, information on US and Canadian states, Spanish terms of endearment and idioms and the Bill of Rights.

Skills and Handicrafts

The Daring Book for Girls is also an excellent how-to guide for many skills young girls today don’t automatically learn, as they did in times past. Building a campfire, paddling a canoe and changing a tyre are all covered, along with more traditionally feminine skills such as tying a sari, putting up hair with a pencil and tying bandanas, and handicrafts like watercolour painting and making paper flowers. There is even important information about first aid, finance, public speaking, Roberts Rules and negotiating a salary that makes the book a useful source of information for older teens.

Unlike many other books written for tween and teenage girls, The Daring Book for Girls does not include references to reaching puberty. There is a brief no-nonsense entry on boys for example.

Inspired by The Dangerous Book for Boys and written with the permission of its authors, The Daring Book for Girls is a wonderful guide to activities for girls, both traditional and modern. As so many of the activities are suitable for boys as well, many girls may find their dads and brothers sneaking a peek.

A Daring Girl

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