For Boys Only

March 1, 2008
Gr 5-8-Aronson and Newquist add to the number of recent books targeted at boys with a pleasantly jumbled miscellanea of odd facts, sports stories, and forensic lore. There's a page of math tricks, information on how to create, or solve, a coded message, and maps that show the possible locations of hidden treasure. Plus! There are coded puzzles scattered across the bottoms of most pages, including a final "PUZZLE SUPREME." It's all appealing stuff. Unfortunately, the book falls flat when it comes to its design and illustrations. The latter are stiff, square, and about as much fun as a chart of road signs in a safety manual. One section is called "Fear Factor: America's Scariest Amusement Park Rides," but there are no pictures of any of them in action. Another is "Supercars," with descriptions of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and other dream vehiclesbut only tiny outline drawings of them that will not satisfy boys interested in these kinds of cars. A book like this one cries out for cool photographs. Most boys will pick this book up, flip through it, and put it back down again."Walter Minkel, New York Public Library"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2008
Cool stuff is all around you, notes Newquist, but sometimes you dont want the boring junk that you need to sit through to find out about it. In a tone both light and humorous, Newquist and Aronson aim to please by assembling a tantalizing miscellanycodes, puzzles, best lists, brief history and science facts, instructions for making fake blood and playing Ultimate Frisbee, and even advice about facing up to a shark (try not to bleed too much). Like Conn and Hal Igguldens similar popular import, The Dangerous Book for Boys (2007), for somewhat older readers, this has a text-heavy, multicolumn format and a retro look, despite trendy graphics. The type is also small, which may deter young browsers, and section heads occasionally disappear in the ditch. But design aside, this offers lots of good fun, and with so much chick lit available, its nice to see special attention being paid to boys. In fact, theres nothing here to keep girls away but the title.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)