You Can Do It! The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls

First of all—what a fun book! This has to be the best Living To Do book (and I’ve bought or read quite a few) I’ve ever come across. Written by three sisters, You Can Do It! The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls is a jumbo book filled with things to do—the cover page declares, “Dare to Dream, Learn Something New, Do Something Just for You!” And it’s not like any other Bucket List book you’ve ever read.

For one thing, it’s written by a woman who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The book was Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas’ dream, a dream her sisters—Vaughn Catuzzi Lohec and Dara Catuzzi Near—shared and supported. With its heartfelt introduction and explanation about Lauren’s wish, the nonprofits that were set up in her honor, and simply getting the most out of life, it would be hard not to jump right into the book with both feet—talk about inspiring.

If I told you there were only sixty “badges” to earn in the book (and there are real badges—the back of the book has a sticker for each thing you accomplish that you can award yourself!), you’d probably ask why it’s so humongous. That’s because every task is mapped out in vivid detail. You don’t just get a page that says, “Swim with dolphins,” with a few sentences followed immediately by the next item; each merit badge is mapped out so every woman attempting it can easily find out how to accomplish it—and then do it!

Every single goal in the book—from getting published to starting a rock band to gardening to building a website—starts out with a brief introduction and what you can gain from doing the activity. It even has a small space to jot down notes on why you want to do it yourself, an inspiring quote, and a space to place your badge once you accomplish the task (though if you wish to put your badge somewhere else, you certainly can; I put mine in my journal). Next, you get a mentor. That’s right—sixty mentors, sixty amazing women, for sixty different goals! Each one is a professional, highly experienced and trained in the task at hand, and provides excellent advice and tips.

After these two pages come the actual steps to acquiring your badge. The authors stress that this should be done in your own way, but the steps are there to help guide you there. The margins are also filled with other tips and tricks not listed within the text itself. Next you’ll find some very short testimonials from a woman who did the activity—and a woman who tried! Every activity is ended with a page filled with tons of resources—books, organizations, music, websites, etc. There’s even a small space to jot down your name and the date you completed the activity.

It’s almost overwhelming, isn’t it? But in a good way! And the last part of the book includes a few badges to make on your own for things that you want to do that aren’t included. I would recommend this wonderful book for any woman, but especially the ones who want to suck the marrow out of life through a twisted twirly straw!