The summer months have become such a busy time (so unlike the endless summers of youth) that I've hardly devoted a thought to what we used to call “summer reading.”
To be sure, I still read, and recently managed to finish a short novel by Roald Dahl, and I'm half way through a collection of Paul Theroux' short stories. Dahl is best known for his children's' tales like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and Theroux has written a lot of travel books, and some fine novels like “Mosquito Coast.”
But that's not much reading-a hundred fifty page light novel, and a dozen or so short stories-in two or three months.
The Harry Potter books have inspired a fresh generation of young readers, so I'm told, though I've never read one nor seen the movies. As a child I read my share of Tom Swift and Hardy Boys; Rick Brant “Electronic Adventures” and even some of a girl cousin's Nancy Drew. Those books were a dollar a piece in hardcover, but my mother preferred I got them from the library, as a good one only lasted me a day or two at the most.
So, I couldn't say “no” when Julia Burrow, our dedicated county librarian, brought me a book a couple of weeks ago and said “This really looks great, especially for the boys who are stuck on video games, and know a lot of techie stuff but may have missed this good, old fashioned kind of hands-on, getting to know stuff and fun.”
And Julia was right! There is lots of stuff in “The Dangerous Book for Boys” that I had done with my dad or older cousins, and forgotten about, or had never done and was glad to get a better late than never chance to be “a boy” again, and read the chapter on Famous Battles-Part Two: Waterloo, Balaclava, the Somme, Lexington and Concord, the Alamo, and Gettysburg.
The real story of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” is told at Balaclava in the Crimean War-there was a “Heavy Brigade” too, something I didn't know beans about.
The book begins with the authors saying “I didn't have this book when I was a boy,” and doesn't end until it has taught you how to skip stones, make a go-cart, understand astronomy, explains navigation, tells how to make a periscope, and gives a Brief History of Artillery, along with about 40 other chapters just as interesting and varied.
Some of the information is enlightening to young (and older than young) adults, like giving a great and useful list of “Latin Phrases Every Boy Should Know.”
Hunting and Cooking a Rabbit may be second nature to many Macon County boys, but not to a bunch of the city kids. The Dangerous Book for Boys tells you how to skin a rabbit, along with how to make a bow and arrow, build a tree house, explains Role-Playing Games, and How to Play Poker (something I learned at summer camp, along with How to Be Homesick for the first time).
The Dangerous Book for Boys even lists eight items of a helpful and gentle nature on the delicate subject of “Girls.” Piece of advice Number Five notes: “Avoid being vulgar. Excitable bouts of windbreaking will not endear you to a girl, just to pick one example.”
Oh wise authors! A pair of British-American brothers, Conn and Hal Iggulden compiled this fine summer book. Many girls would enjoy it, too, though the marketing people must have told the authors it would sell better with a title like “Dangerous Book for Boys!”
It's a good fit with the Harry Potter crowd of young readers. On the back it says, “Recapture Sunday afternoons and long summer days. The perfect book for every boy from eight to eighty.”
You can find it at the Macon County Public Library.
Just as soon as I give it back.
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