‘The Dangerous Book for Boys’: Everything You Need to Know About Amazon’s Adventurous Adaptation

Look out, boys! Danger is on the way–and it’s in a book!

Shockingly, that line is not spoken once in Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming family series The Dangerous Book for Boys. But fans of the 21st century kids lit classic will be taken by surprise when the dangerous book comes to life for a six-episode run on March 30. A lot has been changed in order to turn this down and dirty encyclopedia of adventure into a narrative with characters and a plot and everything. But before we get into what the new show is, let’s get into what the book was.

What is The Dangerous Book for Boys (the book)?

Written by brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden, The Dangerous Book for Boys is a field-guide crafted for boys aged “eight to eighty” that’s packed with facts, trivia, historical anecdotes, and instructions on mastering skills ranging from fishing to crafting go-carts and paper airplanes. There was no story to it, no characters or larger mythology. It was a book designed to get kids outside and active–and it worked!

When it was released in the UK in 2006, it dominated the sales charts and drew all sorts of acclaim. It also drew some criticism from people worried that the book was encouraging kids to go out and get injured (the book does come with a liability warning). Really, all the Igguldens wanted to do was get kids outdoors and away from screens. When the book arrived in the US a year later, it was the second-biggest book behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The book has inspired a few stylistic follow-ups, including 2007’s The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskoqitz.

What is The Dangerous Book for Boys (the show)?

Great question! If you or your kids are a big fan of the book, you probably have no idea how a collection of maps and knot-tying instructions could ever be turned into a narrative TV show. Instead of creating an adaptation that would probably look like a cross between MythBusters and a History Channel special, Amazon’s version is kind of a prestige family drama–for kids!

Instead of adapting The Dangerous Book for Boys, the book itself is actually an in-universe artifact that ignites the imagination of the three boys reading it. Those three boys are Wyatt (Gabriel Bateman), Dash (Drew Logan Powell), and Liam (Kyan Zielinski) McKenna, and the author of the dangerous book is their inventor father, Patrick (Chris Diamantopoulos), who left it to be given to his sons upon his death. The boys’ mother is played by Erinn Hayes, her first big gig after all that Kevin Can Wait drama. Also in the house are the boys’ groovy grandmother, played by Swoosie Kurtz, and Patrick’s twin brother Terry (also played by Diamantopoulos, but with a soul patch).

In the show, the Dangerous Book for Boys acts as Patrick’s way to teach his sons lessons even after he’s died. Of the boys, it’s Wyatt who gravitates the most towards the book, as he seeks out imaginative adventures as a way to process his grief. See, drama! But for kids!

Who made The Dangerous Book for Boys?

This may come as a surprise to all the parents sitting down to watch an episode with their kids, but Bryan “Breaking Bad” Cranston! Yeah! Bryan Cranston’s production company Moon Shot Entertainment got the rights back in 2014 and, after an initial deal with NBC fell through, Amazon picked it up. Cranston teamed up with Superbad director Greg Mottola for the show, with the pair co-writing the first two episodes with Mottola behind the camera.

The six-episode first season of The Dangerous Book for Boys arrives on Amazon’s Prime Video service on Friday, March 30, so get ready for a weekend of adventure (and probably some heartfelt emotions)!

Where to stream The Dangerous Book for Boys