Punch Out Books

I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s.   The toys of my youth were from Marx, Lionel, Sears, and all the usual 50s and 60s manufacturers.

I always enjoyed the type of toys where you could “do something with them” rather than just watching the toy and not interacting with it.

Punch out books were my favorite things.   You could build them.   Plus, they were reasonably priced.   I could get them at the “five-and-ten-cent” store if I was good and one was available.

Not having much artistic ability, I never finished a coloring book.   More fun than coloring books (for me) were those "Sticker-Books".   However, nothing beat those Punch Out Books!

I remember becoming a little “connoisseur” of these punch out books.   Among my favorite books were The Flintstones - A Great Big Punchout Book  (this one I was given many times as I just loved LARGE things!)   Plus, that Dennis the Menace Golden Funtime Punch-Out Book  which came in two versions.   The second version had three “stories”.

I had considered these “Dennis the Menace” books the highest forms of the art of the punch out book as they were very exciting to build with lots of details in them.   (I LOVED that treehouse!)

I also had a special fondness for the Do it Again Magic Punch Out Book.   This was because of my (life-long) interest in magic (but that is another story)


Other punch out books that I remember fondly inlude:

  • Dick Tracy Punch-Out Book

  • Marionette Punch-Out Book

  • Pinocchio Punch-Out Golden Funtime Book (and its larger version)

  • Yogi Bear Playbook Push Out Book (and its THREE other varieties)

  • Popeye (various versions)

  • Other Flintstones punch-out books:

    • Fred and Wilma Flintstone Punch-Out figures Ready to Assemble Book

    • Baby Flintstone Pebbles Punch-Out Figures Ready to Assemble Book

  • Easy to Do Big Game Shooting Gallery Punch-Out Book.   What a great book this was.   I received this several times.   So much fun to build and play with.


Of course, we can NOT FORGET what is probably the best Punch Out Book of the whole period which is the The Flintstones Stone-Age Car Punchout Book!   This book was just wonderful as you not only built a stone-age gas station, but you built both the Flintstones' and the Rubbles' cars.   And these cars ran by themselves as they were rubber-band powered.  What fun!

One special punch out was The Eighth Annual Edition of the Worst from Mad Magazine with the Pop-Out Bonus ZEPPELIN.   Published in 1965.  It had that great punch out Zeppelin section.

Starting in the 1970s I remember how the quality of all the available punch out books was lost.   They became very simple.   The cost of printing, no doubt, was the reason.   The “Tiny Town” series (Tiny Town, Tiny Safari, Tiny Frontier Fort, etc.)   were examples of these.   I was sad when I saw what the art of the punch out book had become.

That said, in talking to friends who are slightly younger than me, they remember fondly these “Tiny” series of books, so, like all collecting, it is a matter of your own memories.

When the Internet came into being, especially during the early days of eBay, I began searching for these books and collecting them.   I limited my search to the books of the 1950s and 1960s as those were the ones I remembered.

After amassing punch out books from the 1950s and 60s, I then began to look at books from the 1930s and on.   It turns out that some of the most beautiful books were produced during this period .  Not surprising, since the Great Depression and WWII necessitated the production of inexpensive toys for kids.

Enjoy viewing my collection!