bookshelf

THE MUSEUM OF NOTHING

Name: THE MUSEUM OF NOTHING
Author: Steven Guarnaccia
ISBN: 9781662651441

by Steven Guarnaccia ; illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 2023

Much ado about a lot of stuff most youngsters won’t fully get or appreciate.

bookshelf

Nothing equals something.

Pals Oona and Otto visit the Museum of Nothing. In the Nobody Room, they’re greeted by a sign featuring lines from Emily Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” and a “statue” of the Invisible Man “stands” on a base. (Otto shakes hands.) The Blank Library contains books with empty pages, while the Zero Wing displays works of art that depict the number zero in several languages (along with a portrait of actor Zero Mostel, his head shaped like a zero). The kids visit the gift shop and, upon arriving home, announce they saw NOTHING! at the museum. This cheeky, overly hip metaphysical journey will appeal to adults more than children—though the Hall of Holes is kid-level fun—and will require much explaining from grown-ups. References to “Yayoi, Kaholo, and Ono” on a sign will likely go over youngsters’ heads, as will Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None in the Blank Library. An appendix, “The Catalog of the Museum of Nothing,” is a boon, even for adults. Still, crisp ink and digitally colored illustrations include numerous cleverly embedded zeroes and letter Os to represent the concept of “nothing”; children will enjoy scouring the pages to locate them and may want to illustrate their own ideas about nothingness. Blond, pale-skinned Oona and dark-haired, brown-skinned Otto wear clothes featuring zeroes. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Much ado about a lot of stuff most youngsters won’t fully get or appreciate. (Picture book. 6-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023

ISBN: 9781662651441

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Minerva

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
CINDERELLA
by Steven Guarnaccia ; illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia

- BOOK REVIEW
KNIT YOUR BIT
by Deborah Hopkinson & illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia

- BOOK REVIEW
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
by Steven Guarnaccia ; illustrated by Steven Guarnaccia

bookshelf

LITTLE DAYMOND LEARNS TO EARN

by Daymond John ; illustrated by Nicole Miles ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2023

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

bookshelf

How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!

John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: March 21, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

bookshelf

I DON'T WANT TO READ THIS BOOK ALOUD

by Max Greenfield ; illustrated by Mike Lowery ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 2023

Appealing for entertainers and those who would rather just listen.

bookshelf

What is the point of reading a book aloud?

Greenfield and Lowery’s latest work of metafiction—after I Don’t Want To Read This Book (2021) and This Book Is Not a Present (2022)—features an agitated unseen narrator objecting to the idea of reading a book aloud: “It’s dopey words like aloud that make me want to remain asilent.” The rambling and occasionally digressive complaint provides an excellent canvas for Lowery’s energetic, hand-drawn typography and whimsical, charmingly silly drawings. Nearly every word is in capitals and gets its own color, size, or blocky 3-D rendering, resulting in a set of stage directions for a reader’s voice, graphically indicating pacing and emphasis. The detours from the cranky harangue are amusing. The narrator literally addresses “the elephant in the room”—“Hello, Elephant!”—and a few pages later focuses on the possibility that a word like aplomb could show up. The elephant offers a helpful definition of aplomb with, well, aplomb. Concerns about the pitfalls of performance are at the heart of this monologue. At one point the narrator’s worries (“I mean, what if I lose my place?...What am I supposed to do then? START OVER?”) are itemized on the verso and repeated on the recto. The audience will possibly find this hilarious. The sly paradox, of course, is that the reading aloud of this metatextual discourse contradicts the narrator’s avowed aversion to doing so and does it with panache. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Appealing for entertainers and those who would rather just listen. (Picture book. 6-9)