I’m Mortified… Books Review

I am mortified that I judged a set of books by their title. I’m a bad bad person.

When I was raising my kids, it was way WAY a thing with me that there are no girl toys, there are no boy toys, there are just toys. It was a big enough “thing” that once after they were grown, one of my kids and I were in McDonalds and the woman at the counter asked the woman in front of me if she wanted a boy toy or a girl toy in her happy meal. It’s not like they could have asked if she wanted a Barbie or a Hot Wheels…. no… boy toy or girl toy. My precious child looked at me with panic and said “Mommy, please don’t”. I didn’t. I thought it. And my back instantly straightened. As a child of the 60’s growing up in the 70’s, and being a tom-boy (is that even a thing any more?), I wanted desperately to be in little league. I wanted to do so many of the “boy” things. I learned that you can bend a Barbie at the waist and have a perfectly respectable double barrelled (feet) pistol. For Easter I wanted my new Easter outfit to be a pair of Wranglers and a cowboy shirt (the kind with fake pearl snaps and every thing). I’m 56. The last dress I wore was in 2016.

I posted on some of the local groups that I will be making a pilgrimage to a place 200 miles away called One Dollar Book Swap and were there any books that people would like to see cycled into the Little Free Library. The store, apparently, has bins of ‘floppy’ (I read that as not hard back… ) kid books that are all you can cram into a bag for $10. I figure I can stock up on them.

Yes, I will do a review of that trip once I’m done.

The Daring Book for Girls and The Dangerous Book for Boys were highly recommended. It made my head hurt. I may have said bad things in my kitchen where no one would hear me. Seriously? In the 21st century we are still marketing this way? Yeah, I know we are… I’ve been through the toy department (they have awesome puzzles and kinetic sand).

I used to not mind being known as a feminist. I think everyone everywhere ought to be treated equally. This makes me as unpopular with some women as with some men because I think that if women have chairs and couches in their bathrooms men should have the same in theirs. The original purpose for them isn’t a thing any more and all the ones in the bathrooms I have been in have been used for making phone calls and hiding out from work. Equal is equal.

Yes, I know I will probably get shit for that… because I really think that every single person should be treated with respect unless they have PROVEN themselves individually of not being respected.

ANYWAY… the books. I went looking on line and found them.

I was not up for coughing up what Amazon wanted for them (and there is Double Daring and Double Dangerous versions as well) just to investigate. BUT… the library… ah yes, the library has copies of all four of them. I was more than willing to use up 4 of my book spots to see what they were all about.

These books are amazing.

The girl one (just “flipping through” the kindle version) has Basketball rules and hints on playing… Palm Reading… but at the beginning it has an “Essential Gear” list that starts with a Swiss Army Knife with a how to care for it instruction… Bandana how to use it in interesting ways, why to carry safety pins and that you should always carry a journal, a pencil and a spare pen. The best part I’ve seen yet… if you do anything 200 times you will be able to do it (the two-hundred-times rule). These are things that not only apply to kids but anyone. It’s awesome!

The library only had audio book for the Dangerous Book for Boys but the Double Dangerous Book for Boys has information on Old American Coins… Flying Machines… What is the tallest mountain on Earth… is the Earth slowing down… and tying a Windsor knot.

I would probably not market them “to girls” or “to boys”… all of them seem to have a lot of information that anyone can use. Ironically, if I can find any of these at the store, I will buy myself a set first and other sets for the little free library as extra ones. I won’t buy new ones for the library but I really would love to share these with as many people as I can.

Incredibly great reads.

I will not judge a book by it’s title again.

Love and Light
AprilJoy