God, I remember that book. Even when I was about six, it was icky. More so now.
I remember this one too - I think it was the stark black and white photography that really sold the pathos. Of course, my mother is a psychology professor whose specialty is death and dying so this was on the lighter side of what was around the house......
Good Lord, that is creepy.
Truly hilarious in a totally serious "avoid meat grinders or you'll end up with a hook kind of way." I agree about kids books today. They are kind of mamby pamby. Thanks for sharing. What's the name/author of the book? I'd like to see if it's on Amazon.
My great uncle had a hook and, in spite of him being a very, very nice man, I was terrified of it. If I had been forced to shake the hook, my little head would have exploded.
BWAH! Classic.
[yeah, nothing wittier than that to say, just wanted to register my bwah! classic. before anyone else.]
I love how the disabled hook man's tongue is lolling out in the most lupine way.
"Hey little kiddies...I'm not threatening, except...IMAGONNAEATCHU...just kidding little kiddies...kind of."
TOUCH IT. Oh my god.
My favorite part is how only "touch it" is showing in the second photo, like it's an imperative sentence. Fun with grammar never gets old.
At almost 30, hooks still scare me a little. I'm mature enough to handle the situation, but I think if someone made me touch it, I'd have to run away and scream like a little girl.
So that book? My worst nightmare.
"...who can teach him a thing or to about sticking your arm into dangerous places, like Nazi-occupied France."
I just about peed my pants when I read that line. I'm not the type to pass stuff along, but I have a friend that I know will love that line. I bet if he reads it while drinking something, it'll probably fly out his nose! 
I am dying laughing over here... "Matthew won't be putting his hand in the sausage grinder anymore, I reckon."
You crack me up.
"touch it"
That's nightmare food right there.
My dad got seriously pissed at me when I was 4 or 5 because I sort of freaked out when I noticed that the guy who ran a shop my dad frequented had a peg leg. The best part about the peg leg was that the guy lived on the waterfront. He was like a real-live pirate.
And I have been worrying about whether I'm a bad mom for reading Petunia the first Harry Potter book chapter by chapter at night. Whenever I start to fret, I will just think of the kid shaking the hook and breathe easy. Thanks, Jim.
I have already read this one to the kid three times today. I go put it in the other room under some newspapers or something but she always finds it and carries it over to me. She calls it "Mr Bello."
No Link??!! I had this book as a child. There was a series, I think. I spent a good portion of the kids' spring break tearing my mother's house apart for those books last spring. Alas, they are gone. Actually, I think YOU may have my books! Can you give me more information? Who published them? Titles? Anything?
If she likes "Mr. Bello", she'll love Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffmann. It is a classic German story about the consequences for engaging in bad behavior.
Am I the only one hearing George Bluthe bellowing, "And this is why you don't put your hand in a meat grrinder!"?
Fabulous.
Man, I miss the 70's.
Is the boy wearing a little cap in that last photo?
Touch it!
oh. oh my.
Apropos of your last post, may I ask you to explain why you find smoking so disgusting? I can not possibly assume that it's merely a litany of obvious reasons.
t.
Today I'm in the mood to claim this book is a beautiful artifact from a lost era. Just today, cleaning my daughter's room I found this book from the '70s called 'Unmanning' (I think...can't get it while she's asleep in there). I probably bought it at the Goodwill which is where I get most of her books.
Unmanning is a consciousness raising book for men about how to shuck the awful burden of traditional masculinity. I really must get my act together and scan it for posterity. Goddamn, they were really on to something in the late sixties/early seventies. The sincerity! The hope! The plan to change the world...The whole idea you could touch some guy's hook and then learn to love and accept everyone, hook hands and all.
Unmanning is not a kid's book but it does have pictures that are surprisingly like the pictures here.
Speaking of '70s I got the Sesame Street 'Old School' (i.e., Sesame Street that was once for kids but that now carries a warning that it is only for adults...for some reason.) If anyone is like me (and probably no one is), watching early Sesame Street will make you realize that the country has gone sooooo far downhill since the '70s. 1970s Sesame Street is a multiracial utopia. Children were encouraged to accept cookies from strangers without fear. Kids slide down slides and their underwear shows. The innocence is painful to watch.
Ridicule if you must, but believe me, this hook book came from a better time.
I really can't stop laughing at "touch it."
"Shake the hook, son."
"But, dad..."
"SHAKE THE HOOK!"
I'm laughing so hard right now...."touch it". lolol
Oh, lordy, the words "touch it" on the bottom of that last page about killed me. Traumatize the kids!!
Thank you so much for the much-needed laugh .
"sticking your arm into dangerous places, like Nazi-occupied France"... HA. I just have this image of a guy standing on the Normandy coast or maybe on the French border with Switzerland, cautiously extending his arm into France, and instantly losing it. that's what happens when you stick your arm into Nazi-occupied France, kids.
and this book would have creeped me out as a kid, I think. That's cool that Juniper likes it so much. none of these softie PC books for her
I so want to shake the hook.
Oh yeah, we totally had that book!
just noticed that you were linked to on people.com
Yeah, why have all that namby-pamby gimps are just like everyone else political correctness crap? Bring back the good old days when the handicapped knew their place and that place was to give normal people somethinig to laugh at! That is unless you happen to be one of those people who have a disability and then you realize that those days of making fun of us are still around. Yeah, I said us. I'm so sorry that political correctness took away your amusement. I kinda like having some dignity. You?
if any more first-time visitors arriving from the various e-mail groups and messageboards hyperventilating about my insensitivity towards the handicapped decide to leave indignant comments like the one above, I reserve the right to skewer you mercilessly for your inability to detect even the most obvious sarcasm.
that is just fantastic. and no, I'm not being sarcastic
Oh jeez, you just took me back to 1991, late night, parked on Woodward, in front of the Majestic, back when the neighborhood was a lot grottier than it is now. I step out onto the sidewalk, and my friend whispers over the car to me to me "Psss..." and I say "What? There's a man with a look?" and she frantically hisses at me and I say more loudly "WHAT? A man with a BOOK?" and she says "No, asshole, THERE'S A MAN WITH A HOOK!" And by golly, there is. Right at my elbow.
But he ignored my assholery very civilly. And I'm not afraid of hooks no more....
I see comments from yesterday and the day before, so even though I'm behind due to vacation, I feel free to add my giddy laughter at the style in which this admirable lesson was presented (to clarify for any overly sensitive types who might be confused).
Touch it!
And yes, to whoever said it above, I did picture George Bluth's armless henchman lecturing this kid, and it was glorious.
I am catching up on entries I've missed and when I read the one about staying home with Dad while Mom's on a business trip, I thought, "Heh. This reminds me of the book I had about the kid who met the man with a hook arm." AND HERE IT IS!
Hooks on other people still freak me out, but this book made me want one.
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