The Halloween Gross-Out Guide

Gr 3–6—It is a fact universally acknowledged that craft books often come with gender baggage. And while it would be nice to have an entire craft library full of gender-neutral titles, items such as cupcake cookbooks and jewelry craft books will be perceived as "girly" no matter how they are titled and designed. This series, full of instructions for making weapons, vehicles, and practical jokes, gives the boys their own collection of crafts (although plenty of girls will enjoy making slime and invisible ink). Six projects per volume range from foolproof (invisible ink made of lemon juice) to time-consuming and difficult (secret-compartment book). Many of these crafts will require some trial and error in order to achieve a successful outcome, and two (fake wounds made of flour and water dough, Jell-O worms) stymied even veteran craft testers. This somewhat flawed series fills a gap but is probably a secondary purchase at best.