cover image Up to No Good: The Rascally Things Boys Do, as Told by Perfectly Decent Grown Men

Up to No Good: The Rascally Things Boys Do, as Told by Perfectly Decent Grown Men

. Chronicle Books, $9.95 (104pp) ISBN 978-0-8118-4840-4

Based on the premise that the rascally behavior of young boys is not only a fact of life, but an essential step in a boy's development, this wickedly entertaining book offers up silly photos paired with the reminiscences of ""decent grown men."" These short trips down memory lane describe the crazy pranks the contributors remember pulling, from tormenting nuns in Catholic school to torturing innocent frogs. One man remembers tricking his cousin into peeing on an electric fence, and another recalls the creative techniques he mastered to kill ants. Every story, however, is told in a wistful, amused tone, with the assurance that nothing was done out of malice. The accompanying black-and-white photos of boys being boys, making faces at the camera and frying ants with a magnifying glass, perfectly capture the nostalgia in these pieces, making this small volume an endearing and playfully naughty Father's Day gift. 50 b&w photos.