The Gift of Nothing

Patrick McDonnell

ISBN 10: 0316013781 ISBN 13: 9780316013789

Publisher: Little, Brown, 2005

Synopsis

What can Mooch the cat give Earl the dog when Earl has everything? The answer, of course, is nothing. This simple picture book story features characters from McDonnell's popular comic strip, "Mutts." Illustrations.

About this title

About the Author:

Patrick McDonnell is the creator of the Mutts comic strip, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. He has illustrated for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Reader's Digest, Time, Parents, and other journals, done CD covers for the Greatest Hit classical music series, and created a license plate for his home state of New Jersey. Patrick has been hailed as "the next Charles Schulz," sits on the board of directors of the Humane Society of the United States, and has won numerous awards for both Mutts and his animal welfare work. He is the co-author of Krazy Kat: The Comic Art of George Herriman and also contributed a story to Little Lit: It Was a Dark and Silly Night, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francine Mouly (HarperCollins, 2003). This is his first children's book.

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. The stars of the Mutts comic strip, Mooch the cat and his canine friend, Earl, break out of the Sunday funnies into the picture book world. McDonnell applies his spare style, sketching his cheeky characters with only a few deliberate lines. Each has a distinctive feature—Mooch's red ellipse-shaped nose, Earl's Princess Leia ears—that makes them instantly endearing. With plain backgrounds, a limited palette and a small square trim size, the book looks like a blown-up cartoon strip (even the pages have a newspaper-like grittiness). But the story has more depth than the minimalist visuals would suggest. Here, Mooch searches for the perfect gift for Earl. "What do you get someone who has everything?" he wonders. (Earl is the proud owner of a bowl, bed and chewy toy.) Mooch mulls it over (red and black dots and bubbles indicate his deep thinking) and comes up with "Nothing! He would give Earl the gift of nothing." But where to find nothing? Mooch tries shopping (because "Millie came home from the store and said, 'There was nothing to buy!' "). But alas, "nothing was not for sale." How he solves the problem is pure delight, reminding young readers that the greatest gift is friendship, not things. Both Mutts fans and newcomers will appreciate McDonnell's clever wordplay and lovable characters, who prove that nothing can be everything. All ages.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0316013781
• ISBN 13: 9780316013789
• Binding: Unknown Binding
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 56