Brief Plot Summary:
Expecting a new baby, the family living at Number 47 decide to move house. Packed and ready to go, the family leave home thinking they have left nothing, but the missing cat, behind. However, what they do not realise is that they have left something behind in the attic: something called ‘Nothing’. Something that was a treasured possession of the family a long time ago, but over the years has come to be regarded as essentially nothing. This book tracks the journey of ‘Nothing’ as he makes his way back to the family that left him. By following a mouse out of the attic, and talking to various different animals ‘Nothing’ is able to discover who he really is: a small cuddly toy cat called Toby. He learns that he actually belongs to, and is wanted by the family, even though they left him behind. They just forgot, like he did, who he was and what he meant to them. All ‘Nothing’ had to do was find his way back into the arms of ‘Grandpa’. The story ends with ‘Nothing’ being restored back to who, and what he used to be:
‘With the help of a good wash, some scraps of material, a needle and some thread [...] he became Little Toby once more.’
Why I like, or don’t like the book:
I enjoyed reading this book because it transported me back to my own childhood, when I used to read many Mick Inkpen books. I felt his picture books helped me develop my storytelling skills, as they inspired me to recreate my own versions of his stories. His ‘Kipper’ books in particular were a favourite of mine.
Outline appropriate age range:
This book is most appropriate for children between the ages of 4-7.
Say how it could be used in the classroom:
This book could be used in the classroom in a variety of ways. The story focuses on three particular issues: identity, friendship and family. Therefore it can be used for curriculum support in PSHE:
- To help children develop their social skills, and learn the importance of friendship. This book can be beneficial in helping children understand that assisting others, being polite and accepting people for who they are is crucial. The teacher can use the example of ‘Nothing’ as he comes across different animals in the book. Treated quite poorly by other animals ‘Nothing’ gets upset and feels there is no hope, until he comes across a cat. The cat accepts him for who he is and invites him to go back to his house. Little does the cat know though that the family he is a part of is also ‘Nothing’s’ family.
- This book could also be used in the classroom to help children develop their confidence and sense of identity. Aiding children to accept they are important, even though they may feel like they don’t fit in, or are scared about doing and trying out new things, the story’s message reassures children that they belong and that they should not be frightened about change, or new things. They should accept not only others for who they are, but themselves.
In literacy lessons this picture book could be used to help children develop their storytelling skills. The pictures could be put on to several different pieces of paper, and disorganized so that the children have to rearrange them in to the order in which they appear in the book. Laid out like a comic strip they can then narrate/ verbalise what is going on in each picture and why they think it should appear as it does in their comic strip. This type of activity would contribute to their awareness of what makes sense grammatically.
The children could also retell the story from several different points of view; from the ‘Grandpa’, to the ‘Cat’, to the ‘Fox’, to the ‘mouse’ to the ‘Frog’ to the ‘Family’ as a whole. Therefore, this book is also a good resource in which to inspire creative writing. Whether it be forming simple sentences to put into a shorter version of the story, or fashioning both complex and simple sentences into their own version of story, an activity like so would help children of any infant year group to develop their sentence writing.
Online, there is an audio version of the book, which could be used in both classroom and home learning. Listening to an audio version of the story whilst following the words in the book, could be beneficial in aiding children phonetically, as they could use this version to correct themselves and learn accordingly.