The Hole Book

By Peter Newell

Originally published in 1908

This edition 1936

The Hole Book is a wonderfully illustrated story of young Tom Potts and what happened when he fooled with a gun.  That pesky gun went off and shot a hole clean through the wall.  This book is unique for its time in that it actually has a hole on each page, showing where the bullet travels.  For it doesn’t stop in the wall, but continues through to the boiler in the kitchen, through Sister Sue’s rope swing, into the gas tank of an automobile, and on and on, causing calamity the entire way.  Fortunately, it was eventually stopped by Mis’ Newlywed’s thick, tough cake.  

Since this book is in the public domain, you can read it in its entirety here.  There is one page in the original edition, as seen online, that is unfortunately quite racist.  Interestingly, that page is missing from my copy, which was formerly from a school library.  I’m not sure if my edition came without that page, or if it was removed by the librarian.  

I suppose upon reading this book one would get the impression that it is a warning for young children to be careful with guns.  And that alone would be an extremely important lesson!  To me it teaches more than gun safety.  It also illustrates the repercussions of any mindless or inconsiderate action. The ripple effect of a foolish action can have disastrous, unintended consequences that the instigator is never even aware of.  So be careful! You may not be as lucky as Tom Potts was to have Mis' Newlywed's cake to stop his bullet.