Book Review: The Daring Book for Girls

The Daring Book for Girls, by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz, is the distaff version of the bestselling The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden. Like its male version, The Daring Book is a throwback to the children’s encyclopedias and magazines of old, full of games, activities, and bits of information the authors think one should know in order to be daring, well rounded, and culturally literate—in a rather old-fashioned sense of the term. There is no talk of iPods or IM-ing. Technology takes a back seat to the kinds of activities one can play in the backyard or at the kitchen table with nothing more than a few household items and a friend.

I found most of the book to be great fun. It explains diversions like basketball, softball, tag, slumber-party games, jump-rope games, and darts; academic matters like the periodic table of the elements or Greek and Latin word roots; biographies of women scientists, inventors, spies, and leaders; and useful career-building skills like public speaking and how to negotiate a salary. There are a number of crafts, including friendship bracelets, book coverings, and daisy chains, as well as woodshop activities like building “The Ultimate Scooter.” Camping and outdoor activities take up much space, and girls can learn about climbing, how to build a campfire, and how to paddle a canoe, as well as a number of campfire songs.

I was pleased to see a good overall balance between the “tomboy” activities (e.g., how to change a tire) and the more “girly” ones (e.g., pressing flowers). There is a section on “Princesses Today” that made me cringe a little, even though the princesses in question seem independent and achievement-oriented. I guess I’m just not a fan of the whole princess obsession among young girls today. Still, if including such content makes girls realize that being a princess means more than just sitting around looking pretty in pink, I’ll accept it.

With only a page or two given to most subjects, this is a book for whetting one’s appetite, not to learn about any of the topics in detail. No one is going to learn karate by reading the “Five Karate Moves” here (and the book doesn’t pretend otherwise). If it encourages a girl to enroll in karate lessons, though, then it has succeeded. (The karate page does, however, erroneously show a picture of a knife-hand block when describing a knife-hand strike. I have a black belt in taekwondo and am inclined to be fussy about such things, but regardless, it could be confusing to anyone when the text and picture don’t match.)

One misstep in terms of making this a book for today’s independent girl, however, is in the section “The Daring Girls Guide to Danger,” in which they encourage girls to face their fears by doing things like riding a roller coaster, going white-water rafting, or dying their hair purple. So far, so good—but among the challenges listed is to “Wear High Heels.” I just don’t think this counts as “dangerous” in the same category as “riding a zip line” or even having “a scary-music festival.” Furthermore, while heel-wearing is a decision adults make for themselves, encouraging middle-school-age girls (the target audience) not only to try them (which is fine), but to practice, is irresponsible, as they can permanently damage still-growing bones and ligaments. “Eventually, if it’s a skill you want to learn,” they say, “you’ll be able to run, jump, and do karate in three-inch heels.” This also trivializes the achievements of women athletes, who would not be nearly at their best doing such sports in heels. Yes, one can defend oneself in heels, as anyone who’s been stepped on by heels while dancing will attest (and as a lesbian, I’ve been on both the giving and receiving end here). No serious martial artist would compete in them, though, and to imply otherwise is nonsensical.

The book also comes up short when it comes to race and ethnicity. In the same section as the part on heels, the authors suggest girls challenge themselves by “trying sushi or another exotic food.” That’s fair enough if one has grown up eating “traditional” Anglo-American fare, but would, I imagine, make no sense if one were Japanese-American, and grew up with an exposure to foods of one’s heritage. The authors could have selected a better range of cross-cultural challenge foods in order to be more inclusive. The list of “Books that Will Change Your Life” is also lacking in books by non-white authors. (Beah Richard’s Keep Climbing, Girls was the only one I could spot.) Similarly, although the selection of women heroines throughout the book is racially diverse, most of the book’s activities come from what seems to me a generic, Anglo-American tradition. Yes, the book explains how to tie a sari, and describes several “Daring Spanish Girls,” but there are no games or activities that come explicitly from, say, the African-American, Chinese-American, or Mexican-American experience. Surely many girls would have fun learning Mancala and Go, for example, or reading about major celebrations from various American ethnic subcultures.

On to gender. Given the variety of information packed into the book, one wonders if it is really necessary to have separate volumes for boys and girls. There is much overlap between the two works, although boys learn about famous battles, naval flag codes, and how to shoot and cook a rabbit, while girls learn more crafts and slumber-party games. Each gender also only has biographies of famous people of that gender. If one is going to teach about hunting (a matter many may debate to begin with), why not teach girls as well as boys? Would it hurt to teach boys that women throughout history have achieved many important things (and vice versa for girls, although that’s usually done in secondary-school history classes)? I admit, when I was a girl, I found my cousins’ Boy Scout handbooks, with their hardcore details of hiking and camping, much more interesting than my own Girl Scout ones, so my bias for wanting in on the boys’ knowledge goes way back. As a lesbian adult, too, I am quite aware of the range of the gender spectrum and the need not to force people into defined molds.

At the same time, I am a graduate of a women’s college and love taking Olivia’s women-only cruises. I understand the importance of having time with others of the same gender. The fact is, the average American girl will probably find more resonance with the mix of information and activities in The Daring Book for Girls and the average American boy will probably prefer The Dangerous Book for Boys. If you like, of course, you can buy one of each and let your kids read them as they wish.

I should say a word, too, then, about the section titled “Boys.” For the target age range, dating and attraction are mysterious things lurking on the horizon, and it makes sense to include them in a book on being daring. The authors are cautious not to overstate the matter, saying that some girls might find the idea of romance with a boy “too icky to even imagine,” and it’s fine if boys are just friends. Beyond that, however, they don’t go anywhere near the idea that some girls are in fact attracted to other girls. In this day and age, that would seem like a key piece of knowledge to pass on in a book of essential girl knowledge. It’s a shame that a volume that is otherwise enjoyable, informative, and full of tomboyish activities is, in this, less than daring.

The Daring Book is bound to make the rounds of tween girls this holiday season. If you have a daughter in that age range, you can bet many of her friends will get it or want it. Buy it for what it offers, which is a whole lot of fun, but be sure to fill in the gaps with your own ideas and knowledge of what makes a daring girl.