The Museum of Nothing

August 15, 2023
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)

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September 4, 2023
Oona, portrayed with pink skin, and Otto, whose skin is brown, aren’t sure what to expect when they stand at the entrance to the Museum of Nothing. But the place does look appropriately empty—Guarnaccia (Knit Your Bit) delineates the space and its empty pedestals and vitrines with crisp black lines and basic gray washes. The kids, who each sport “0” motifs on their clothing, quickly take to the place, and it turns out that there’s an awful lot of nothing on display here, including a library full of books with empty pages, a wing that pays tribute to zero, bottles of air reminiscent of Marcel Duchamp’s work, and another room full of holes whose black hole seems to momentarily envelop Otto. The joke even continues in the gift shop, where one can buy an Invisible Man action figure and a covetable t-shirt that reads, “My parents went to the museum and all I got was nothing.” Cerebral and occasionally arcane, the cheeky pages will tickle young brains and inspire further exploration. Ages 5–9.

October 20, 2023
Grades K-3 Oona and Otto visit a new museum: The Museum of Nothing. They go inside, and there is nothing everywhere. There is nothing in the Nobody Room, nothing in the Blank Library and the Zero Wing, and so much nothing in the Hall of Holes. Briefly, Otto is sucked into a black hole and hurtles into the singularity, but he returns safely, and they head home, having spent the day at the museum, seeing a whole lot of nothing. There are more Easter eggs hidden in these inked and digitally colored pictures than a Where's Waldo? book. In fact, the back matter includes a catalog of the museum's references, from Marcel Duchamp's 50 cc of Paris Air to Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness to Kozimir Malevich's painting White on White. The art style and the story text are very simplistic, the colors deliberately muted and minimal, leaving room to highlight the museum's black, white, and lavender elbow-nudges in the nameplates and endless zeroes. Given the highbrow sophistication of the museum, it's no shock that it's the brainchild of a former New York Times art director.

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