Iggulden, Conn & Hall Iggulden. Illustrated by Andrew Ashton. The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: Things To Do. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2008.

Characters: N/A

Setting: N/A

Theme: sports and recreation; outdoor skills

Genre: Juvenile literature; nonfiction; guidebook, how-to book

Golden Quote: “There is something magical about small books. Somehow you own them more than large ones. You can keep them in a secret box or the crook of a tree…but if you’re holding this, you’ll know it’s just the right size to take with you on adventures. The only thing we couldn’t do was make it fireproof and waterproof, but who knows? Maybe we will, yet.”
Summary: A pocket-sized book of wisdom based on the bestselling phenomenon, The Dangerous Book for Boys, this portable edition includes some favorite activities from the original book, along with some even more dangerous new ones! With everything from how to win at poker, to how to make a paper hat, from skipping stones to writing a note in secret ink, the Pocket Book of things to do will appeal to all men and boys with an appetite for danger!

Audience: age level: 8 to 80

Curriculum ties: Parent/Son Activity Day: Show and Tell- encourage parents to spend time with their child over the weekend creating some of the projects highlighted in the book. Some suggested projects can include building a go-cart, work bench, or pocket light. Parents and children can also be encouraged to spend time teaching their family pet new tricks or playing table football. The following week, host a parent/child show and tell where both the parent and student bring in pictures of their projects or write-up a short paragraph of what they did for parent/son weekend.
Go-Cart Race- host a parent/son activity day at school. Set aside time in the afternoon or perhaps on a Saturday, to have students come in with their parents to work on a special go-cart project. Provide materials such as paints, markers, glitter, leaves, etc. to assist the parents/students with their projects. Encourage the pairs to be as creative as possible. Once the carts are assembled, set up a relay race for all of the teams. As an added bonus, establish criteria on which parents/students will be judged, for example, creativity, enthusiasm, team work etc. and award a small prize to the winners.
"Dangerous" Recess Ideas- juggling and knot tying activity. Gather students together in a group for a demonstration. Demonstrate the techniques for juggling and knot tying and encourage them to participate. Then have a contest to see which student can tie the fastest knot or juggle the longest without letting the balls fall.
Marble Crazy- introduce students to the techniques of marble "shooting" as described in the book. Then allow them to break into groups and have fun playing classic games such as Ring Taw, Bounce About and Hundreds.
Ay, Ay Captain! - create your very own paper boat, hat and water bomb; make a copy for each of your students. Encourage students to be creative and design their own paper boats and/or hats.
Dangerous Knowledge Bowl -use the information provided in The Dangerous Book for Boys as a primary source for developing questions. Have students create a list of trivia questions/answers on index cards and then break into teams. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. Below are a few sample questions to help them get started.
The word "insect" comes from which classic language and means to "cut into" or "segmented"? Answer: Latin
What is stenography? Answer: The practice of sending secret messages.
Name 3 of baseball's most valuable players.

Awards: Book of the Year award at the 2007 Galaxy British Book Awards; the Nibbies, 2007
It also won various industry awards including the Stora Enso Design and Production Award at the British Book Industry Awards for the design and production team of Andrew Ashton and Nicole Abel.

Personal response: I love this book! In this day and age when kids are tethered to their devices, it is nice to see someone put together a fun, outdoorsy guidebook to help boys find stuff to do outside of the house. While some of activities could be considered “dangerous” (and there is a disclaimer in the beginning of the book that all activities require adult supervision, however, most can be done without one. The disclaimer feels more like encouragement for parents to connect with their children to go out and have an adventure based on the activities and project presented in the book. Nonetheless, still a good way for the authors and publisher to cover themselves in case something was to go wrong. This book celebrates the true beauty of childhood, which is almost naturally losing out to technological innovation. What’s even better is there is a companion girl’s version as well. ( )

Parodic and self-conciously 'hip-hip, stiff upper lip' this is never the less a fantastic book for boys who want to learn essential skills in life. The five year old in this household thinks it's cool, the parents think it is funny. What more can you ask for from a book like this? ( )

WHEN i will have a son