Review Detail

I heard about the drama surrounding this book before actually getting to read it. Google to your heart's content, but the gist is that Scholastic published the "How To Survive Anything" series targeted separately towards boys and girls. I bet you can guess which sex got chapters entitled, "How to Survive Quicksand," "How to Survive a Polar Bear Attack," and "How to Survive an Avalanche," as opposed to who got "How to Teach Your Cat to Sit" and "How to Pick the Perfect Sunglasses." Yeah, this doesn't look, Scholastic.

There are some skills that would be useful to both sexes, such as speech making, surviving shyness, and showing you're sorry. Unfortunately, it is assumed that only females need to survive these things. It's insulting and sexist to both boys and girls.

Scholastic has written a tepid response, stating, "Many readers have expressed concerns about our How to Survive Anything titles, and we want to thank you for your passionate responses. The two titles have had very limited distribution to date, and no further copies will be made available." Both books are still being sold on the Scholastic website.