The girl's guide to building a fort: Outdoor + Indoor adventures for hands-on girls by Jenny Fieri, illustrated by Alexis Seabrook

 I'm always interested in hands-on, activity books although their reception by kids is varied. There are a lot of reasons for this varied response; even books that purport to be fully "recycled" crafts or activities that "anyone" can do require a certain amount of adult assistance and background knowledge, from being fluent readers to the encouragement of caregivers to experiment and try different things. Lack of space, especially outdoor space, or the lack of early training to encourage kids to take initiative and try things, rather than waiting to be told what to do, constricts many children. Although it's true that a lot of kids choose electronics, not all do so out of actual preference but because they haven't been trained or encouraged to do anything else. Before you complain about "kids these days" being "on their devices all the time" stop and think about how often you are on your phone...

Ahem. Anyways, another issue is that most activity books, especially involving outdoor, building, or potentially "risky" activities are directed towards boys, either openly or implicitly while more "craft" type books tend to be directed towards girls.

This book, although it does have some flaws, creates a female-friendly space for girls to try a wide range of activities, from camping to cooking, without judgment or commentary on their preferences. Each chapter includes a wide range of activities from general suggestions to step-by-step projects, as well as information and some reflections on different ways to experience and try the subject. Readers can explore science, the outdoors, sports, art and literature, building, and cooking. Badges and further reading for more activities are included in the back.

The main criticisms leveled at the book are that some of the activities are not clearly explained or diagrammed and some disregard some basic safety components, like building a campfire. I have mixed feelings as to whether those are problems or not; on the one hand, girls with no prior experience and no guiding adult may find themselves frustrated or in trouble. On the other hand, one of the real barriers to kids getting active and experimenting is how heavily scheduled and surrounded by rules and instructions they are. It's a constant frustration to me that when I try to do art projects or hands-on activities with the kids I frequently get a recurrent chorus of "but what are we supposed to DO?" followed by "it's not working right!" The way to learn is to do, to explore is to experience, and a little risk along the way is, to my mind, a good thing.

Verdict: If you have a lot of bored kids around or, conversely, a lot of active kids who like to try different things, this book just might click with some of them. However, if your audience have their lives tidily organized from dawn to dusk by adults or at the other end of the spectrum completely lacks any resources or adult presence, this may be better used as a professional resource to help build experiential programs.

ISBN: 9781524861179; Published May 2021 by Andrews McMeel; Review copy provided by the publisher and donated to the library