"But, mom, there's nothing to do."

Next time your son(s) say, "But there's nothing to do", throw this book at'm - then throw out their cell phone, television, computer, IPod and Playstation. Or they could mow the lawn, shovel, chop wood, bail hay, milk the cows, weed, clean their room or get a job.

Review: "If Huckleberry Finn were to settle down, somewhere out there in the territory, and decide to become an author, he might very well come up with a book like this one . . . evoking the kind of boyhood that nearly every American man would like to have had himself, and hope that his son (or daughter) might still enjoy." - Washington Post Book World

Customer review: "Filled with black & white illustrations and schematics, this guide for American boys, originally published in 1882, is organized by season and is chock-full of instructions, suggestions and advice about kites, fishing, knots, telescopes, tents, soap bubbles, animals, snowball warfare, puppets, kaleidoscopes, whirligigs, costumes, decoys--even fireworks!! The emphasis is on building things yourself, and to that end it is an extremely valuable handbook for our increasingly passive society. There are definitely things here that will give you pause or that are culturally dated -- like making a blow gun, trapping and raising wild animals and taxidermy at home...Snowball war, anyone?"