Sunday, May 9, 2021

Review: Adventure Boys! by Nicole Duggan

 

ADVENTURE BOYS!
Crafts and Activities for Curious, Creative, Courageous Boys 
by Nicole Duggan
Rockridge Press
Middle Grade Non-Fiction
174 pages





Activities that foster creativity, curiosity, and courage in boys ages 6 to 12

Discover exciting new kinds of crafts for kids. Whether your boy adventurer likes to play outside, work with his hands, get creative, or do all three at once—Adventure Boys! has all kinds of awesome ways for him to play.

Empower boys and encourage them to try new things. Whether it’s creating a backyard racetrack, developing coding skills, or building a neighborhood book exchange, this standout among books of crafts for kids will teach them just how amazing they can be.

Go beyond other activity books for kids with:

  • Outdoor skills―Boys will have a blast getting outside as they try activities like building a tree house or growing plants.
  • Handy crafts—This collection of crafts for kids encourages constructive play by showing them how to create everything from air-powered race cars to musical instruments.
  • Creative activities—Inspire creative thinking in boys as they learn how to create stop-motion videos, dye their own clothes, and more.

Help boys discover the excitement of trying new things with these super fun crafts for kids.



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MY TIDBITS

Summer fun and adventure keeps boredom at bay as this book sparks all sorts of ideas to keep boys (and girls) entertained.

After a short letter to the reader, the author simply dives into creativeness. The book is divided into 25 chapters with general themes from clay crafts to story telling to clowning around and more. In each chapter, there are several activities, which relate to the theme. At the end, ten well-known adventurers from history are presented and quickly summarized. It's definitely a broad scope and incudes something for just about everyone.

Most activities are described in two pages...some only one. Each activity is introduced with a title and quickly presented in one sentence before diving in. There's a clear and colored 'What You'll Need' list, which makes it easy to see if the materials are available right away or see if everything is on hand before beginning. Then, the activity is listed step-by-step, each with a sentence or two. Accompanying illustrations help make it clear what to do and keep the entire thing light and fun.

I love the huge variety of possible activities. While some are definitely more adventurous, others are quieter. Some are more advanced and require lots of time and work, while others can be done quickly and easily. Some teach. Some are pure fun. It's not a book, where every activity will probably be used, but there's definitely something for every personality, purpose and situation.

The text and illustrations are great for middle school kids. Everything is neatly and obviously laid out. I did find many of the descriptions a bit vague, though, and wished more than once that there was just a sentence or two more, since not only my kids but even I had to think it through and experiment to see what was meant. And some things are definitely not just for the kids (like building a treehouse) and require parent know-how...which isn't a bad thing, either.

It's a fun book for summer and sparks ideas to keep boredom at bay.


2 comments:

Natalie Aguirre said...

So glad you liked this book. And perfect timing for me. My boyfriend is applying to be a foster parent of a 4-10 year old boy and I'm going to help. This book could be perfect for us. Thanks.

Tonja Drecker said...

I hope things work out for you guys! I just gave a copy to someone around that age, too, and hope they'll enjoy it.