Unbored: The Essential Field Guide to Serious Fun

The most original, entertaining, and instructive all-in-one book for kids ever published-jam-packed with information, ideas, and activities for children and their parents to share together

Unbored is the guide and activity book every modern kid needs. Vibrantly designed, lavishly illustrated, brilliantly walking the line between cool and constructive, it's crammed with activities that are not only fun and doable but also designed to get kids engaged with the wider world.

With contributions from a diverse crowd of experts, the book provides kids with information to round out their world view and inspire them to learn more. From how-tos on using the library or writing your representative to a graphic history of video games, the book isn't shy about teaching. Yet the bulk of the 350-page mega-resource presents hands-on activities that further the mission in a fun way, featuring the best of the old as well as the best of the new: classic science experiments, crafts and upcycling, board game hacking, code-cracking, geocaching, skateboard repair, yarn-bombing, stop-action movie-making-plus tons of sidebars and extras, including trivia, best-of lists, and Q&As with leading thinkers whose culture-changing ideas are made accessible to kids for the first time.

Just as kids begin to disappear into their screens, here is a book (along with its sequels, Unbored Adventure and Unbored Games) that encourages them to use those tech skills to be creative, try new things, and change the world. And it encourages parents to participate. Unbored is exciting to read, easy to use, and appealing to young and old, girl and boy. Parents will be comforted by its anti-perfectionist spirit and humor. Kids will just think it's awesome.

Contributors include Mark Frauenfelder of MAKE magazine; Colin Beavan, the No Impact Man; Douglas Rushkoff, renowned media theorist; Geoff Manaugh, author of BLDGBLOG; John Edgar Park, a CG supervisor at DisneyToon Studios; and Jean Railla, founder of GetCrafty.com and Etsy consultant.

Author: Joshua Glenn, Elizabeth Foy Larsen
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 10/16/2012
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.75lbs
Size: 9.90h x 7.80w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9781608196418
Audience: Ages 4-8


Review Citation(s):
School Library Journal 09/01/2012 pg. 163

About the Author

Joshua Glenn is an editor at HILOBROW, and is a principal of the commercial semiotics agency Semiovox. He is co-author and/or co-editor of Taking Things Seriously, The Idler's Glossary, and Significant Objects, among other titles. Josh was a columnist and blogger for the Boston Globe's IDEAS section; he published the zine/journal HERMENAUT. He lives in Boston.

Elizabeth Foy Larsen was a member of the team that launched Sassy, a magazine for teen girls. She went on to hold various editorial positions at Utne Reader, including executive editor of Utne Lens, one of the world's first online magazines. She mastered the art of brevity as a digital content editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press and as the executive producer of Twin Cities Sidewalk. Today, she's a freelance writer and editor whose stories have appeared in numerous local and national publications including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, The Daily Beast, Slate, Travel + Leisure, Parents, Family Circle, and StarTribune.

Tony Leone is a principal of Leone Design. His work has been honored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the Brand Design Association, and has been featured in Communication Arts, Print, Graphis, and elsewhere. He has a son and a daughter.