cool book sighting

In case anyone is looking for the book to give a kid after you give her Swallows and Amazons, I just stumbled across it: The Anti-Pirate Potato Cannon and 101 Other Things for Young Mariners to Build, Try, and Do on the Water. Given that last time I encountered someone with a potato gun they were using starter fluid as the propellant and that pretty much any potato gun I’ve ever seen involves some kind of explosive propellant, I was startled (and impressed) to see it in a kids’ book. Apparently it also includes instructions on not only harmless crafts (make an underwater viewing bucket) but useful skills (navigate by the stars, build a raft) and some other riskier stuff (waterski on bare feet, do an Eskimo roll). I cannot help but think that the crews of both the Swallow and the Amazon would approve – except that Susan would insist on supervising the younger ones with the potato gun.