"The Dangerous Book for Boys," the most popular British import since Harry Potter's debut, is inspiring similar low-tech manuals for girls.

"The Daring Book for Girls," to be published in October by Collins, promises chapters on "Five karate moves every girl should know" and "Famous women spies."

"The Girls' Book: How to Be the Best at Everything," out from Scholastic Aug. 1, offers advice on making pompoms and French braids.

"The Great Big Glorious Book for Girls," out in Britain next month but so far without a U.S. publisher, promises to "take women back to a time when we made cupcakes with our grandmothers, when girls weren't obsessed with all things pink (and) didn't wear 'Hot to Trot' T-shirts" at age 8.

All follow the "The Dangerous Book for Boys" by novelist Conn Iggulden and his brother, theater director Hal Iggulden, who write: "In this age of video games and cell phones, there must still be a place for knots, tree houses, and stories of incredible courage."

A British best-seller for a year, the American version is No. 5 on USA Today's Best-Selling Books list with 635,000 copies in print. It is being promoted as "the perfect book for every boy from 8 to 80."

Collins executive Margot Schupf says similar books are "inevitable. Any success breeds copies."

It also raised the question, "What about girls?" although boys are a tougher market for publishers.

Collins signed "The Daring Book for Girls" by U.S. authors Andrea Buchanan ("Mother Shock") and Miriam Peskowitz ("The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars") from several competing proposals.

Scholastic is rushing out U.S. versions of British best-sellers "The Girls Book" by Juliana Foster and "The Boys Book" by Dominique Enright and Guy Macdonald. Publication dates have been moved up from September to August.

Publisher Ellie Berger says the books overlap but cater to the differences in boys' and girls' interests. For example, advice to boys is: How to get out of quicksand. For girls: How to make your own luxury bubble bath.

Such manuals strike "a chord among parents who have a nostalgic/retro longing to share with their own kids the same kind of good, old-fashioned creative play, both indoor and outdoor, that they grew up doing."

Tom Dwyer, a book buyer for Borders, says "The Dangerous Book for Boys" is "neither politically correct nor politically incorrect." He found its advice about girls ("It is important to listen") "charming."

Its format is not new. The oversized B on the cover is copied from a 1904 manual, "Boys Own," that belonged to the authors' father.