New Releases by Daniel Carter Beard

A nostalgic re-print of a practical manual for a boy's life around the turn of the 20th century. Sadly, many of the activities in this book are out of reach for the modern boy. The manual assumes the reader lives if not in utter wilderness, at least within walking distance of nature; which is no longer the case for most urban or even suburban boys. Also, a lot of the projects for building things assume the boy has access to items which are no longer commonly to be found; wooden barrel lids for one. The book is not for these reasons useless; several activities, such as knot-tying, are still practical skills to learn. In areas that get snow in the winter, the directions for building snow forts and playing winter games are clear and the designs work. As a practical how-to manual or as a social history of childhood in America, the Handy Book is an enjoyable and useful book.

Daniel C. Beard was not only a founder of Boy Scouting in America, but also a prolific and engaging author. His great passion was making boys and girls feel at home in nature, to allow them to experience its wonders while fostering their sense of self-sufficiency and independence. The present volume introduces young people to the pleasures and challenges of camping. In it, Beard suggests any number of projects, plans, and schemes to entertain those whose travels take them into open fields and forests, who want to know everything from how to build kites and birdhouses to snow houses and snow men.

There are chapters on packing a horse, on making clothes and moccasins, on camp cooking, on building piers, boats, and sleds. As usual, the directions are clear, the diagrams simple, and the activities seductive. This is an age when the most common phrase one hears from children is "I"m bored." With this book in hand, you can send them into the smallest woodland plot and be sure they'll have an activity that will occupy them for hours, as well as projects that are not only fun to do but that actually work.

This is our fourth "handy book" by Dan Beard, the founder of the American Scouting movement, who believed that having boys build things with their hands was not only a detriment to making mischief, but also the basis for building great lives. In this belief, Beard was indefatigable, and every Scout worth his merit badge was expected to read his classic tract on camp-lore and woodcraft, which included instructions on how to build a good fire, cook venison, prepare for a camping trip, and use an axe and a saw.