Books The American Boy's Handy Book: What to Do and How to Do It, Centennial Edition
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Get 'em out of the house
This is a masterwork by one of the founders of the Scouting movement. It is designed to provide children (boys) with ideas and plans to make everything from kites to traps to invisible ink. It is writen in a style that is easy for the child to understand. In an age when kids can't be pried away from the TV and video games, this book takes us back to a simpler time when kids were sent outside in the morning and didn't come back in until supper.
My 25 year old son asked for this for Christmas because he loved it so as a boy, and I wouldn't part with my copy.

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Rating: - More coffee table book than practical treatise...
I was rather disappointed in this book, as I had bought it based in large part on other's reviews, thinking it would give my boys some really good ideas on things to do with their idle time. When I received and thumbed through the book, however, it appeared clearly more of a nostalgic coffee table book than a "how to" manual of the activities/projects it covers. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone seeking help with filling up a boy's idle time, but instead to those needing another book for their coffee table or bathroom rack. It's a nicely written book, but I believe improperly packaged/marketed as a "how-to" book, misleading the buyer/reader.

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Rating: - Handy book is right!!
This book is an excellent "how-to" guide for any project imaginable, many of which have become "lost arts" in todays society. Great for outdoor enthusists as well as scouters, with tons of fun crafts, activities and skills for the taking!! It contains many alternative activities to video gaming,virtual reality, and electronic pastimes to get kids outdoors and thinking and learning creatively. I gave one to all seven of the boys and men in my family for Christmas, and they all love it.

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Rating: - Old fashioned boyhood projects and information
Our son loves to do outdoorsy and handywork types of things, so this book has been fun for him. He is 9. Some of the projects are still a bit too complicated for him to do on his own, and some he likes to read about but doesn't necessarily want to do, but he has enjoyed the pictures and descriptions of "how things were made in the old days" like his grandpas used to do.