Hole Book

I was given this book by my husband's grandmother. I believe it is an original copy from 1908. It has a grey cover and believe me, the hole is right where it should be. I loaned it to my daughters 1st Grade teacher and she really appreciated its mastery and originality.

Frankly ALL the Newell books, like The Slant Book, should be published in near-original format by some hyper-sharp publishing house. The original publisher took great care to be sure the book functioned perfectly as an object, the registration is flawless, which isn't the case here. This is brilliant stuff and yet more evidence that our ancient ancestors of about 100 years ago may have been a little sharper than us in a lot of ways. For now this sloppy so-so edition will have to do, but in so many quality ways it really isn't even close to what was regular kid book standards back then (honestly, few kids books nowadays match what I'm finding from back then--illustration is getting just awful for starters). Five stars for Newell who was only a recent discovery and a happy one.

Did you know this book was a childhood favorite of Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel? I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of it yet, but I think any book that inspired one of the masters of rhyming is worth reading!

Of all of the books that I read when I was a child, this is the only one that I truly never forget. I have captivated the attention of my friends and their children by reciting some of the best verses. The rhyme and meter is exquisite, providing an almost musical theme through each episode. The vocabulary is perfect for young people and fun for adults. It utilizes advanced words, while not burying their meaning from beginning readers. The characters lend themselves to creative new voices for each reader to explore. All of theses remarkable qualities, and it maintains a serious lesson for young people, that guns are not for fooling around.

My parents were given this book when they were children, read it to me when I was a child and now I read it to my children. Children thoroughly enjoy this book but it wasn't until I picked this book up and started to read this as an adult did I fully appreciate why Tom Pott's bullet suddenly stopped when it hit the new brides freshly baked cake. Read this book to your children and yourself, for all of you will enjoy this book tremendously.