The American Boy's Handy Book [Hardcover]

Daniel C. Beard (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 15, 2008 | Age Range: 8 and up

Long before a "dangerous" book was all the rage there was The American Boy's Handy Book by Daniel Beard, a beloved classic for generations of youngsters. Specially designed to provide loads of ideas for adventures and games both indoors and outdoors during each season of the year, The American Boy's Handy Book was originally published in 1882 and became an instant bestseller.

Now, Tuttle Publishing is bringing this much-loved book back for a new generation of boys to enjoy. If you're not too young to fly a kite or too old to enjoy a day fishing, The American Boy's Handy Book is chock full of fun activities intended just for you! There's something for every day of the year: making an aquarium, rigging and sailing small boats, camping without a tent, making a cornstalk fiddle, trapping, building a snow fort, and of course tons of other games and crafts, too.

Daniel Beard firmly believed in letting boys make their own playthings, encouraging them to value their own hard work and gain the skills needed throughout life to successfully invent, construct and dream. In this world of instant gratification with ever-younger generations coveting the ubiquitous cell phones, computers and iPods, it seems as though the imagination and sense of adventure that permeated our country's past have all but disappeared. Welcome back the joys of childhood with The American Boy's Handy Book, and prepare to make old favorites new again!

Editorial Reviews

Review

At first glance, this republication of a more than 100-year-old book is simply an artifact of immense nostalgic charm.... The Handy Book was then - and now again is - a brim-full collection of guidance on an immensity of subjects, ranging from knot tying to boat-making, to outdoor survival without appropriate gear. Sure there have been developments and discoveries since, of equipment and techniques. But it's astonishing how up to date much of the splendid stuff is." (Michael Pakenham Baltimore Sun )

Over 100 years after its original publication, The American Boy's Handy Book: What to Do and How to Do It is still engaging the imaginations of children and adults. (Family News )

Using the original type and illustrations, The American Boy's Handy Book gives step-by-step instructions for a number of projects, many of which require adult supervision. (Coastal Family )

This paperback includes many oldies but goodies - in fact it was first published in 1888! This guide was written by Daniel Carter Beard.... He had a love of making things and spending time outdoors, and he passed along his knowledge in this book. (Charlotte Parent )

There's always something fun for your boys to do in The American Boy's Handy Book. Activities include everything from camping without a tent to building boats. (Puget Sound Parent )

The do-it-yourself projects are arranged by season Spring begins with elaborate kite building and goes on to fishing and aquariums. Summer activities include knots, boat building, homemade hunting apparatus and camp craft. (Mike Maza, of the Dallas Morning News Patriot-News )

Delightful. (New Hampshire Sunday News )

Timeless. (Richard C. Debold Middletown Press ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Daniel Beard was born in 1850 and lived most of his life in Kentucky. From an early age Beard decided to devote his life to American boyhood. He was a prolific writer and illustrator and the founder of two different societies for boys, as well as one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America. Before his death in 1941, Beard received the only Golden Eagle badge ever awarded by the Boy Scouts of America, and the mountain peak adjoining Mount McKinley in Alaska was named in his honor.

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing; Hardcover with Jacket edition (September 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804839956
• ISBN-13: 978-0804839952
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.1 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #275,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #30 in Books > Children's Books > Sports & Games > Camping

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 83 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book for Boys (and Girls)! February 16, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I had a copy of this as a kid and read and re-read it to the point that the cover was more tape than original material. A wonderful guide to doing things yourself, and a welcome antidote to today's passive consumer paradigm of childhood. A fair number of the materials called for are hard if not impossible to find today, but the spirit of adaptation and improvisation that imbues this book will inspire the reader to find substitutes. Some parents may suspect the fair number of projectile- launching devices described, but the book is infinitely less violent than most child-oriented television shows and never fails to stress safety. My friends and I learned a lot of practical mechanics and crafting skills, developed our hand-eye coordination, and never shot anything more fragile than a plastic figure. We did a heck of a lot more damage to each other and our environment playing soccer and broomstick polo. My own future children will unquestionably have a copy of _The American Boy's Handy Book_ when they're old enough.

77 of 79 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars retro fun for active kids August 24, 2004

By audrey TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

Filled with black & white illustrations and schematics, this guide for American boys, originally published in 1882, is organized by season and is chock-full of instructions, suggestions and advice about kites, fishing, knots, telescopes, tents, soap bubbles, animals, snowball warfare, puppets, kaleidoscopes, whirligigs, costumes, decoys--even fireworks!! The emphasis is on building things yourself, and to that end it is an extremely valuable handbook for our increasingly passive society. There are definitely things here that will give you pause or that are culturally dated -- like making a blow gun, trapping and raising wild animals and taxidermy at home -- but that is where parenting comes in, and all-in-all I would say this is a valuable and exciting book for kids, filled with pragmatic insights and a fun historical document as well. Snowball war, anyone?

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute must for any active & creative boy. October 22, 1999

By J.T. Ashby ([e-mail])

Format:Paperback

In 1949, I was given a 1890 hard bound addition of this book. Ican not begin to tell you how many of the projects in this book gaveme so much fun and a sense of achievement to complete.

To this day, I'll thumb through the pages and remember a time when life was a lot easier and childredn were allowed to be children.