Miriam Peskowitz is the co-author with Andrea J. Buchanan of the phenomenal New York Times and international best-seller The Daring Book For Girls (Collins). The empowering how-to, can-do, hands-on manual for girls, struck a nerve across the country with its simple message about the pleasures of girlhood. Peskowitz and Buchanan appeared on NBC’s Today Show, Fox News’ Fox and Friends, NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, Martha Stewart Living Radio, and drive-time radio nationwide and internationally. The Daring Book for Girls was featured in Newsweek, Time, O Magazine, Good Housekeeping, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Toronto Globe and Mail, The Times of London, Teen Vogue, and across the internet and blogosphere.
Peskowitz is an established speaker, and has been a popular guest at colleges and universities nationwide, from Harvard University to Nassau Community College to the Law School of the University of Washington. She has spoken to groups at law firms and in business settings; at charity and fund-raising events; to women’s groups and school groups, and at libraries, churches, and synagogues. She connects with her audience whether the setting is large or small. Peskowitz can be booked together with Buchanan or separately.
The Daring Book for Girls is the quintessential book for girls of all ages who seek a life filled with curiosity, inspiration, and adventure, and is filled with everything from how to put your hair up with a pencil, make a peg-board game, shoot a basket or play darts, to the lives of ancient queens, tips for being a spy, and how to speak in public and to negotiate a salary. It speaks to people of all ages who seek relief from our pressure-filled world where everyone grows up so fast and so soon. An inspirational book, it marries our quick-in-coming technological changes to an older set of values in which family, friendship, and having the skills to make and fix things matter. Where our nine-year old girls no longer have to act like they are 17. Where a Sunday afternoon is not for shopping, but for hiking, reading, and laughing; for shortsheeting beds, running a lemonade stand, or learning to skateboard; or for making a cloth-covered book, a scooter from wood and nails, and a flashlight from a pair of D-cell batteries. Peskowitz and Buchanan follow up the best-selling Daring Book for Girls with the even bigger, better Double-Daring Book for Girls, a guide to everything from surfing to making a raft to learning the rules of football and the art of the Japanese Tea Ceremony.
Peskowitz is the author of several books, including The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars: Who Decides What Makes a Good Mother and two academic books on ancient history and Jewish Studies. She was a tenured professor at the University of Florida until 1998 when she left her post for the joys of being a writer, and has also taught at Emory University, Temple University, and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She grew up outside of New York City, attended the Juilliard School’s Pre College to study the cello, graduated with honors from Oberlin College in 1986, and earned a Ph.D. from Duke University.
Peskowitz lives in Philadelphia, with her husband and two daughters.
Praise for The Daring Book for Girls
“The essential how-to manual for the modern-day girl . . . celebrates the notion that everything boys can do, girls can do – better.” — Teen Vogue
“With tips on doing cartwheels and pulling pranks, The Daring Book for Girls is old-school cool – like its bestselling brother The Dangerous Book for Boys.” — Good Housekeeping
“An old-fashioned-fun-and survival guide specifically for the pigtail pack . . . offers primers on everything from changing a tire and negotiating pay to basic karate moves and lighthearted pranks. Now Hayley has no excuse for sitting at the computer while Zack is up in his tree house.” — Readers Digest
“Not that we’re feeling competitive, but The Dangerous Book for Boys does seem a wee bit… exclusionary. Happily, The Daring Book for Girls shows the women of the future – and their adventurous elders (us!) – everything from how to tie a sari to how to negotiate a salary and clues them in on the first rules of softball (never apologize unless you actually bop someone). Among the joys: nearly extinct games (like ‘Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board’) that may have eluded you while you were busy with Barbie and boy toys.” — O, The Oprah Magazine
“The authors mix inspiring tales of girls who made good . . . with a scrap bag of how-tos for girlish activities . . .The Daring Book for Girls keeps . . . practical knowledge from getting drowned in the techno-flow.” — The New York Times
“The Dangerous Book for Boys is really cool, but can you blame us for feeling a little relieved – and excited – that there’s now The Daring Book for Girls? (We were raised, after all, on Harriet the Spy and Riot Grrl.) The nice retro layout expedites lessons in lost arts like how to whistle with two fingers, play 14 different types of tag, and spy, but there are also great tips for the contemporary young woman, from how to negotiate a salary to math shortcuts to slumber-party games.” — New York Magazine
“The Dangerous Book for Boys, Conn and Hal Iggulden’s take on classic British boys’ periodicals, has been a fixture on the best-seller list . . . So it’s no surprise that the red clothbound repository of activities and advice is now joined by The Daring Book for Girls.” — Newsweek