How to Amaze Your Daughter by Raphaele Vidaling

   How to Amaze Your Daughter by Raphaele Vidaling; Firefly Books (9781770856011), 2015. 

Format: Paperback

Genre: Crafts, How-to Book

Rating: 3

 What did you like about the book?  Chockfull of inventive, whimsical, creative crafts and experiments, this book is a gem as far as presentation and inspiration go. Colorful, realistic photographs accompany every activity. The concept—“to see the extraordinary in the ordinary”—is exactly what we need today, in a world where children miss out on so much of what surrounds them.

Some of the ideas are so charming I wanted to run right out and find a child to do them with. There’s a nice mix of science and art and most of the ideas are simple enough for a young child to do with adult guidance. Examples of a few of my favorites are “Pebble People”, “Monochromatic Photos of Odds and Ends”, “Colored Vases Made with Cut Balloons”, and “Fairy Houses in the Forest”.

 Anything you didn’t like about it? 1. Some of the pages have the directions written in a font or against a background that make them difficult to read. 2. There is a lack of specificity in many of the lists of materials. For someone who is a novice, it can be confusing. For example “wax” is listed as one of the items needed for a project. Should it be paraffin wax, soy wax, bees wax? “Balloons” doesn’t specify shape or size, despite appearing to be relevant to the project. 3. Most of the ideas are simple, straightforward and can be done in a minimal amount of time. To make the mermaid costume, however, one would need to be an accomplished seamstress. 4. I wish this book didn’t exist as How to Amaze Your Daughter with its companion How to Amaze Your Son. Two volumes of “How to Amaze Your Favorite Young Person” would be so much nicer.

To whom would you recommend this book? (Read-alikes if you can think of them)- Who should buy this book? Despite being directed toward adults, girls will borrow this to share with their favorite grown-ups.

Where would you shelve it? In the nonfiction section with other craft books.

Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? No

Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City: Nancy Riemer Kellner, Peaslee Elementary School Library, Northborough, MA 

Date of review: 8/3/2016