What do you get for the friend who has everything? Nothing, of course!

Pactrick McDonnell’s The Gift of Nothing is the light-hearted tale of one dog’s quest to find just the right nothing to give his special friend.

The language is simple enough that Miss Kindergarten read this book to me before I had a chance to do the honors. Her little sister sat nearby laughing at the silly dog looking for nothing at the mall, searching for nothing on TV, and puzzling over where nothing might be hiding.

In fact, the entire book is delightfully simple. In addition to the language, the illustrations are sweet, with tons of soothing white space. And the concept is simple, yet so very much needed in our world of so many somethings.

The best gift for that friend who has everything is, of course, nothing but time together.

I jumped on the library wait list for this book in early December. Now here it is mid-February and it’s finally my turn. Clearly, everyone else has heard of how wonderful a little nothing can be. After all this waiting, I was still pleasantly surprised that such an important moral can be packaged in such a lovely and entertaining tale.

This is exactly the sort of book I’ve been looking for!

Tags: Children's Books

About Sarah

Sarah Aadland is striving to make family volunteering a meaningful habit for her family of five. Join the conversation as she ponders what they may (or may not have) learned and looks for helpful information about raising compassionate kids.Though she plans to one day put her Masters in Public Policy back to work for social justice, she sees family volunteering as a way to build a stronger community, a better world, and a more connected family. In addition to her children, Sarah tends a large garden, a small flock of chickens, and a habit of mindfulness amid the necessary rituals of parenting.

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