211 Things a Clever Girl Can Do

By Bunty Cutler

Book Overview

Anything boys can do, girls can do better. The hysterical, cheeky, female counterpart to the smash hit 211 Things a Bright Boy Can Do . If you ve ever wanted to walk on stilts, make sloe gin, ride an ostrich, or forecast the weather like your grandmother used to, this is the book you ve been waiting for. This surprisingly handy and delightfully amusing guide includes instructions for: EVERYDAY SURVIVAL SKILLS: How to manage an umbrella in the wind, escape a swarm of vicious bees, spot a love rat, get out of a cab without exposing yourself, and make a little black dress out of a garbage bag. HANDY HOUSEHOLD ADVICE: Learn 17 uses for spare fishnet stockings, how to remove any stain, rescue a meal that s gone wrong, and enforce toilet seat procedure in a shared dwelling place. TOOLS FOR THE HOBBYIST IN THE KNOW: How to groom a horse, read tea leaves, force a cucumber, and bellydance."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399534415
• ISBN13: 9780399534416
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: TarcherPerigee
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.6" x 1.0" x 5.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Warning: This book is not for girls. Grown women maybe, not girls.

I bought this book for my ten year-old granddaughter because it resembled a series of books I had bought for her in the recent past. Titles such as: "the Girl's Book: How to be the Best at Everything", "the Daring Book for Girls", "the Big Book of Girl Stuff", and "Girl's Book of Friendship". Fortunately for me I had this book "211 Things a Clever Girl Can Do" sent to my address and had a chance to preview it. Unlike the others which I had sent directly to her. Among the 211 chapters are such titles as: "How to Mix a Harvey Wallbanger", "How to Select the Correct Bra Size", and "How to Attract Men at a Bar". Overall the book was well spelled, correctly typed, had dry wit and could hold interest of young women from 21 through 30. It contains household hints most women have learned one way or another by age thirty. Hints such as the absolutely gripping melodrama: "How to Peel a Hard-Boiled Egg".

wow

i checked this out at the library and just had to buy it. it is a very witty entertaining and handy book. incredible

Cute Book

Cute book. No real practical use but fun to read and looks great on the book shelf. Good conversation starter. Might even pick up one or two tips but mostly for fun.

Useful Knowledge, Cleverly Packaged

There seems to be a whole cottage industry of books written to assist girls and young women along the way in their development as women. Some are useful diversions, some are just diversions, and some are a little bit of both. 211 THINGS A CLEVER GIRL CAN DO is a little bit of both. As noted, it is written by Tom Cutler's alter ego "Bunty Cutler, which raises some questions about the stories that accompanies the book, but the knowledge, as far as I have been able to ascertain is on the mark. However, I'm getting ahead of myself. I have a number of nieces and a step-daughter or two, who are all very intelligent. Unfortunately, they are not as "worldly" as they would like to think, and in many ways that is a blessing. And, old "Uncle George," as I am sometimes called, has somehow developed a reputation of knowing a little about everything, which, I guess comes from growing-up in a small southern town and having to fix things when they broke rather than replace them because local stores didn't carry replacements. A chance encounter with Deborah Ford, and her book GIRLS RAISED IN THE SOUTH (G.R.I.T.S.) Grits: Girls Raised in the South in 2005, provided me, and my nieces, with one of the first "lively" examples of these self-help books for young women. Since then, I've bought several (THE DARING BOOK FOR GIRLS The Daring Book for Girls, THE BUNNY BOOK The Bunny Book: How to Walk, Talk, Tease, and Please Like a Playboy Bunny, SOUTHERN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN Southern Ladies & Gentlemen, etc.) and have shared them mostly with my step-daughter. Of the four books I've mentioned, 211 THINGS A CLEVER GIRL CAN DO and G.R.I.T.S. are the best, and they are priced so low, you can afford to give them both. But, I waffle. If I had to give one, I'd give 211 THINGS A CLEVER GIRL CAN DO, unless the young lady, and she needs to be at least 16, lived in the deep south. Why no 5th star? It's because of "Bunty." Heck, until I read that Tom Cutler and Bunty Cutler were the same person, I had had hope that I'd found the perfect mate for a single male friend.

Witty, Entertaining and Oddly Useful

I picked this up on impulse for poolside reading. Very, very witty. Laugh-out-loud funny at times and remarkably useful, albeit odd, advice. The author opens each discussion topic with a humourous, slightly sarcastic and very cheeky personal story or comment about how she came to know how to do that specific task. The surprising fact is that despite the whimsical and random nature of the advice, it is really a good book to have on hand. A modern, comic version of "Ask Heloise". There is a chapter on saving/fixing meals gone bad, changing a tire in clothes you can't get dirty, bluffing your way through musical history, digging a latrine in the wilderness, surviving a plane crash, and a fatally funny approach to handling telemarketers. Other gems include: how meet your ex's new girlfriend, informing colleagues they smell bad, walking on stilts, undressing a man, catch a cheater, bellydancing for beginners, climbing stairs in very high heels, mixing cocktails, riding an ostrich, cut ahead of a line to the bathroom and my favorite: how to pretend you are still at work while you are at a bar. I enjoyed this so much I bought copies and sent them as gifts to my best friends.