crabtot recommends

It's been a while since I've posted about books that have made our hit list. As some of you know, we like books that are short (meaning, I like books that are short), uncheesy, a bit peculiar, and preferably have weird author names that Crabtot and I can say out loud and chuckle over at story time.

Which brings me to Nothing at All by Wanda G'ag (dead serious, that's her name). Nothing at All is a book I stumbled upon at Crabgran's this summer. It's been in our family through many generations of children. And it shows. (Can't tell what's on the cover. Old ice cream? Paint? Bird droppings?) It's a mess, but it's still around. I fell upon this book with glee this past Christmas. Like her mom before her, Crabtot fell under it's rather bizarre spell too.

Nothing at All is the name of a dog who looks, well, like nothing at all. He's invisible. Which is beautifully rendered as a ball of whiteness: Nothing at all lives on an abandoned farm, along with a couple of other ordinary and visible dogs. One day some darling children come by and take the other dogs away. But they don't take Nothing At All because they can't see him. Not content to be left all by himself, Nothing at All follows them. It's my favorite page: Along the way, a little bird teaches him a spell that helps him to take shape. He has to whirl round and round saying, "I'm busy getting dizzy" (Crabtot loves this bit) over and over again until he picks up doggy features. At first he just assumes a featureless doggy shape, then he gets spots, then a tongue, eyes etc. Eventually he looks like a real dog, the children adore him, and the book ends happily.

Aside from the odd concept and appealing illustrations, which are all done in a striking palette of green, orange, black, and white, I think I like Nothing at All because it has no big message that I can see. Except, perhaps, that it's best not to be invisible. Whatever that might mean.

Sometimes no message can be the right message for story time. Because sometimes you just want to hear a strange tale by someone called Wanda G'ag, about a white blob, who is actually a dog, called Nothing at All. Works for Crabtot.

Any odd stories pass your way lately? Or other non-messagey books to recommend?

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