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Nothing At All
Left alone when his two visible brothers are chosen as pets by a little girl and boy, an invisible puppy tries to find a way to become a dog that everyone can see and love.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1941
3 people are currently reading
351 people want to read
About the author
Wanda Gág
90 books79 followersWanda Hazel Gág (pronounced GOG) was an American author and illustrator. She was born on March 11, 1893, in New Ulm, Minnesota. Her mother, Elisabeth Biebl, and father, Anton, were of Bohemian descent. Both parents were artists who had met in Germany. They had seven children, who all acquired some level of artistic talent. Gág grew up the eldest of these, and despite their economic hardships, the family was surrounded by music, art, light, and love, making it for the most part a joyous existence.
When Gág was 15, her father died of tuberculosis; his final words to her were: "Was der Papa nicht thun konnt', muss die Wanda halt fertig machen." ("What Papa couldn't do, Wanda will have to finish.") Following Anton's death the family was on welfare, and some townspeople thought that Gág should quit high school and get a steady job to help support her family. Despite this pressure, Gág continued her studies. After graduating in 1912, she taught country school in Springfield, Minnesota, from November 1912 to June 1913.
In 1917, she illustrated A Child’s Book of Folk-Lore, following which she worked on many different projects and became a well-known artist and author. Her art exhibition in the New York Public Library in 1923 was the true beginning of her fame. She gained a reputation as an illustrator for socialist publications such as The New Masses, and she considered herself a feminist and advocate of free love in the 1920s. She did not marry her lover until later in life, for instance, although she lived with him before they wed.
She was especially esteemed for her lithographs, though today if her name is known at all it is usually from her children's books, specifically the classic Millions of Cats, which won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958. Gág also received the Newbury Honor Award for this book, and the combined effects of it and her exhibition gave her the funds she needed to carry on her work without stress.
She died in New York City on June 27, 1946.
When Gág was 15, her father died of tuberculosis; his final words to her were: "Was der Papa nicht thun konnt', muss die Wanda halt fertig machen." ("What Papa couldn't do, Wanda will have to finish.") Following Anton's death the family was on welfare, and some townspeople thought that Gág should quit high school and get a steady job to help support her family. Despite this pressure, Gág continued her studies. After graduating in 1912, she taught country school in Springfield, Minnesota, from November 1912 to June 1913.
In 1917, she illustrated A Child’s Book of Folk-Lore, following which she worked on many different projects and became a well-known artist and author. Her art exhibition in the New York Public Library in 1923 was the true beginning of her fame. She gained a reputation as an illustrator for socialist publications such as The New Masses, and she considered herself a feminist and advocate of free love in the 1920s. She did not marry her lover until later in life, for instance, although she lived with him before they wed.
She was especially esteemed for her lithographs, though today if her name is known at all it is usually from her children's books, specifically the classic Millions of Cats, which won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958. Gág also received the Newbury Honor Award for this book, and the combined effects of it and her exhibition gave her the funds she needed to carry on her work without stress.
She died in New York City on June 27, 1946.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
May 7, 2018
I was beginning to think few of these early Caldecott books were very good. But this was a fun little book. I think it is better than the winner for the year. 3 puppies want to be adopted. One puppy is invisible. He decides to figure out how to be seen and so he does. He is told it will take 9 days and the puppy has follow through. It turns out well in the end.
The story is quirky, the art has it's own pleasing style and it uses it's own font. It's a fun story. I like Wanda and I wonder how many stories of hers can be found. Probably just the honor books. I'm learning published books have a life, a beginning, middle and end and unless they win an award to keep them around, they disappear. It makes me a little sad to think on. There isn't room for it all apparently.
The kids thought it might be fun to have an invisible dog but then thought it would be better to be able to see it.
The story is quirky, the art has it's own pleasing style and it uses it's own font. It's a fun story. I like Wanda and I wonder how many stories of hers can be found. Probably just the honor books. I'm learning published books have a life, a beginning, middle and end and unless they win an award to keep them around, they disappear. It makes me a little sad to think on. There isn't room for it all apparently.
The kids thought it might be fun to have an invisible dog but then thought it would be better to be able to see it.
September 5, 2019
What a wonderful story! There are three little kennels with three orphan dogs, one with pointy ears, one with curly ears and one that is invisible. Two children find the dogs and they tell them they will adopt them and they can come home and be safe with them. Not realising that there is a third dog the children take them home. The invisible dog needs to find a way for the children to see him.
I thought this was such a lovely story. I liked the messages of kindness, perhaps a message of the homeless not being visable. This reminded me of a Tove Jansson story where a young girl comes to live with the moomins who had a unhappy childhood and with kindness she gradually becomes visable. The dog doesn't become visable because of kindness in this story but this was an interesting story with absolutely beautiful illustrations.
Read on openlibrary.
I thought this was such a lovely story. I liked the messages of kindness, perhaps a message of the homeless not being visable. This reminded me of a Tove Jansson story where a young girl comes to live with the moomins who had a unhappy childhood and with kindness she gradually becomes visable. The dog doesn't become visable because of kindness in this story but this was an interesting story with absolutely beautiful illustrations.
Read on openlibrary.
September 11, 2019
I love dog books! Give me Harry the Dirty Dog any day! Well I liked this. Sweet text heavy story and sweet small illustrations. I think I’d have loved it when I was a kid. But reading it now as an adult (and I don’t remember reading it when I was young or having it read to me) I didn’t feel enchanted. The way the invisible dog became visible seemed odd to me and I really liked the illustrations and I’m sure I’d have liked the story when I was young. I liked the story but not that much. Some of my GR friends have really liked this. Off to read/reread some more reviews…
3-1/2 stars
Read on Open Library.
3-1/2 stars
Read on Open Library.
August 17, 2009
I remember being mesmerized by the illustrations in this book when I was little. The dog houses were so beautiful in their varied architecture! The dogs were so cute and playful! And little Nothing-at-All was fascinating, growing from a glowing orb of "nothingness" into an adorable "somethingness" of Doggie-shape.
Reading this again as an adult made me realize how much "extra stuff" (dare I say "junk"?) we adults can bring to books, even without meaning to! I remember no odd messages in the text when I was a kid. Yesterday, as I read it, I thought, "Hum, what exactly is the point of this story?" and I decided, with a not-too-pleasant sensation, that it seemed to indicate we must change in order to be loved! (In the tale, the two puppies that can be seen get adopted by loving children--little nothing-at-all, the puppy who couldn't be seen, had been perfectly happy up until then, but now he decides he wants to become a real Visible Puppy in order to have the children adopt him, too.) Silly me? Or Gag's message? Who knows!?
However, the illustrations remain charming and as this is the second of Gag's books I've read recently not appreciating the text, but loving the illustrations, I'm going to look into some of the fairy tales she illustrated, hoping for some lovely illustrations of familiar tales!
Reading this again as an adult made me realize how much "extra stuff" (dare I say "junk"?) we adults can bring to books, even without meaning to! I remember no odd messages in the text when I was a kid. Yesterday, as I read it, I thought, "Hum, what exactly is the point of this story?" and I decided, with a not-too-pleasant sensation, that it seemed to indicate we must change in order to be loved! (In the tale, the two puppies that can be seen get adopted by loving children--little nothing-at-all, the puppy who couldn't be seen, had been perfectly happy up until then, but now he decides he wants to become a real Visible Puppy in order to have the children adopt him, too.) Silly me? Or Gag's message? Who knows!?
However, the illustrations remain charming and as this is the second of Gag's books I've read recently not appreciating the text, but loving the illustrations, I'm going to look into some of the fairy tales she illustrated, hoping for some lovely illustrations of familiar tales!
September 5, 2019
Having explored the feline world in her iconic fairy-tale
Millions of Cats
, Newbery and Caldecott honoree Wanda Gág turns to the world of dogs in this charming story of "Nothing At All." Although just as much a puppy as his two brothers, Pointy and Curly, Nothing At All is invisible, which leads to problems when a little boy and girl arrive at the dogs' long-forgotten kennel (on a long-forgotten farm) and adopt Pointy and Curly, promising them all manner of wonderful things, but leave Nothing At All behind. Determined to rejoin his brothers and to have a home as well, Nothing At All follows the advice of a helpful jackdaw, who gives him a magical spell that will make him visible.
Originally published in 1941, and chosen as a Caldecott Honor Book in 1942 - the other titles chosen that year include An American ABC , Paddle-to-the-Sea and In My Mother's House - Gág's delightful book joins the classic orphaned/abandoned animal story to one involving a magical quest, producing something that feels very much like an original fairy-tale. Her illustrations, done in lithographs that have been colored in, are simply adorable, capturing all the charm of the little puppies. I particularly liked the fact that the dogs' individual kennels reflected their ear shape, which was in turn reflected in their names. Nothing At All is just a sweet little tale, one I would recommend to young dog lovers, to fairy-tale enthusiasts, and to fans of Wanda Gág's artwork.
Originally published in 1941, and chosen as a Caldecott Honor Book in 1942 - the other titles chosen that year include An American ABC , Paddle-to-the-Sea and In My Mother's House - Gág's delightful book joins the classic orphaned/abandoned animal story to one involving a magical quest, producing something that feels very much like an original fairy-tale. Her illustrations, done in lithographs that have been colored in, are simply adorable, capturing all the charm of the little puppies. I particularly liked the fact that the dogs' individual kennels reflected their ear shape, which was in turn reflected in their names. Nothing At All is just a sweet little tale, one I would recommend to young dog lovers, to fairy-tale enthusiasts, and to fans of Wanda Gág's artwork.
January 15, 2012
1942 Caldecott Honor
Favorite illustration: p. 11 The map of Nothing-at-all's route to try to find his brothers.
Favorite line: "Well done!" cried a voice which was the jackdaw's. "You are a pleasant-looking shape, I must say. Keep it up!"
Kid-appeal: If our audience of two could have a vote, they'd say, "Yes!" Cute story. Delightful book design with cute illustration, fun font, and great word choices--twirling/whirling/swirling; dizzy/busy; blossom bushes/puddle ponds.
Favorite illustration: p. 11 The map of Nothing-at-all's route to try to find his brothers.
Favorite line: "Well done!" cried a voice which was the jackdaw's. "You are a pleasant-looking shape, I must say. Keep it up!"
Kid-appeal: If our audience of two could have a vote, they'd say, "Yes!" Cute story. Delightful book design with cute illustration, fun font, and great word choices--twirling/whirling/swirling; dizzy/busy; blossom bushes/puddle ponds.
January 14, 2012
Oh, Wanda Gág, I love your quirky stories, your art, and even your distinctive font!
April 20, 2010
As I helped my father clean out the dark pressboard shelving unit he'd had since college to make way for a new dresser with cedar-lined drawers, I rediscovered this book. I read it sitting on my father's bed, surrounded by my father's stuff, optical equipment, books about arctic explorers, and old notes from my sister and I to the tooth fairy. I wished I had a child to read it aloud to, and to look at the pictures with. The story is fun, rhythmic, and sweet. I took it into my childhood room and read it again just after I had brushed my teeth and just before I fell asleep. It spoke to me, made me hope that all my diligent turning turning turning is making my spots show up, and that sometime soon there will be an outline, and I can take the place that I have always had for the first time.
January 18, 2014
Oh my gosh! So adorable! I absolutely LOVED this story along with the illustrations of the "nothing at all dog" being an un-illustrated circle on the page. So cute. I think if this book hadn't of been up against Make Way for Ducklings it probably would have won the Caldecott for the year. At least I would have voted for it. And the story of the little puppy trying to fit in but still being accepted by his brothers no matter what is timeless, a story that my little girl loved listening to. She also loved guessing what would show up each day as the puppy would spend each sunrise "busy getting dizzy."
February 10, 2013
I'm not a fan of this one and never saw it as a child a decade after it was published. Maybe children would enjoy the story of a dog that is invisible coming into his own...through magic? The story started like it was a fable to convey that was setting up an important lesson at the end - The illustrations were too contained with several exceptions, more like ornaments accompanying lots of text, and I didn't like the typeface either.
May 13, 2014
**** Caldecott Honor (1942) ****
A truly imaginative and inventive story about an invisible dog who learns a magic way to be seen.
"An unusual reversal of reality." - Ms Bubbles SockieP
A truly imaginative and inventive story about an invisible dog who learns a magic way to be seen.
"An unusual reversal of reality." - Ms Bubbles SockieP
August 4, 2015
Ellie remembered reading this book a long time ago and picked it up again from the library.
August 1, 2021
My eldest cousin used to read this to me when I was very small, and I had really fond memories of a story that now I wanted to share with my daughter. She's still too young to understand the words, but it's as lovely and heart-warming a story as I recalled, and I'm sure she'll grow to like it as much as I do.
May 8, 2021
Originally published in 1941, this delightful book has a lot more words than the average picture book, but I think kids would happily listen for the strange and wonderful tale! Illustrations are great and seem reminiscent of the style of the time.
April 29, 2022
I thought it was ok.
If I was reading it to a child, I might have them see what they would invent and think of to make the dog visable.
If I was reading it to a child, I might have them see what they would invent and think of to make the dog visable.
August 24, 2016
"He was not very tall
Nor yet very small;
He looked like nothing,
Like nothing at all."
Nothing-at-all is perfectly contented to be invisible as long as he can do all of the same things his visible brothers can do. Until, one day, the brothers are adopted by a boy and a girl, who don't take Nothing-at-all because they cannot see him. Nothing-at-all follows but soon loses them. A friendly Jackdaw, whose task it is to "carry home everything I see," has helpfully found a Book of Magic which contains a spell to make something that is Nothingy into Somethingy. Needless to say, it works, and Nothing-at-all is able to rejoin his brothers.
Wanda Gag's illustrations have an undulating quality. The soft pastels (?) seem to move. I loved this book - and if it weren't so long I would surely share it with the preschoolers! They'd have such fun with the "I'm busy/Getting dizzy" part!
Nor yet very small;
He looked like nothing,
Like nothing at all."
Nothing-at-all is perfectly contented to be invisible as long as he can do all of the same things his visible brothers can do. Until, one day, the brothers are adopted by a boy and a girl, who don't take Nothing-at-all because they cannot see him. Nothing-at-all follows but soon loses them. A friendly Jackdaw, whose task it is to "carry home everything I see," has helpfully found a Book of Magic which contains a spell to make something that is Nothingy into Somethingy. Needless to say, it works, and Nothing-at-all is able to rejoin his brothers.
Wanda Gag's illustrations have an undulating quality. The soft pastels (?) seem to move. I loved this book - and if it weren't so long I would surely share it with the preschoolers! They'd have such fun with the "I'm busy/Getting dizzy" part!
January 13, 2018
• 1942 Caldecott Honor Book •
Fun, quirky book; if there’s a moral to it, I can’t imagine what it is, but I thought this was pretty fun to read. There are three orphaned dogs: Pointy, Curly and Nothing-at-all who's invisible. After two children adopt Pointy and Curly, Nothing-at-all wants to become visible. A Jackdaw bird helps him by telling him a spell from the Book of Magic: every day for nine days he must repeat “I’m busy getting dizzy!” at sunset while whirling around.
The illustrations are great and I love that the doghouses are shaped like the dogs (pointy, curly and round). And the typeface is fantastic - I think it was handlettered and it gives the book a cozy feel.
Materials used: unlisted
Typeface used: unlisted
Fun, quirky book; if there’s a moral to it, I can’t imagine what it is, but I thought this was pretty fun to read. There are three orphaned dogs: Pointy, Curly and Nothing-at-all who's invisible. After two children adopt Pointy and Curly, Nothing-at-all wants to become visible. A Jackdaw bird helps him by telling him a spell from the Book of Magic: every day for nine days he must repeat “I’m busy getting dizzy!” at sunset while whirling around.
The illustrations are great and I love that the doghouses are shaped like the dogs (pointy, curly and round). And the typeface is fantastic - I think it was handlettered and it gives the book a cozy feel.
Materials used: unlisted
Typeface used: unlisted
October 24, 2012
If this book wasn't a 1942 Caldecott Honor winner, I probably would never have picked it up, although I do love Wanda Gag's color illustrations. This book is about three orphaned dog brothers named Pointy, Curly and Nothing-at-all. They all live in a kennel together. One day two children come to adopt some dogs and see his brothers and take them home. Nothing-at-all follows them but loses them rather quickly. He meets a jackdaw who helps him become visible by repeating a magic chant and whirling in a circle for nine days, which gives him a shape and form. With his new visible body, he is able to rejoin his brothers and be adopted by the children. Recommended for ages 3-6, 3 stars.
October 4, 2017
Are all editions of this picture book oversized? The one I borrowed from my local library is huge, and I can’t help but think all books should be available in this size for story time! In any case, though I didn’t like this book as much as Millions of Cats, it’s a pretty good pet story. Nothing at All’s quest to become visible would make a really nice flannel board, thanks to its incremental changes to the invisible dog’s appearance and its repetitive refrain: “I’m busy getting dizzy!” I also love the way the dogs’ houses correspond to their shapes.
March 24, 2013
2.5
I love love dogs. And I love children's books. I just didn't love love this book about dogs. There was quite a bit to find cute, but you just cannot help but feel this book is dated.
The end was both nice, and also I felt myself wishing it were different. The story, about being invisible, can be a great one - especially for a middle child. You can probably use this book as a tool to reach a child that you suspect feels a bit overlooked.
Sadly, I just can't say you should buy this one. Grab it at a library.
I love love dogs. And I love children's books. I just didn't love love this book about dogs. There was quite a bit to find cute, but you just cannot help but feel this book is dated.
The end was both nice, and also I felt myself wishing it were different. The story, about being invisible, can be a great one - especially for a middle child. You can probably use this book as a tool to reach a child that you suspect feels a bit overlooked.
Sadly, I just can't say you should buy this one. Grab it at a library.
June 2, 2008
So I wrote a review for this book but I guess I forgot to upload it. Basically, it's so-so on all fronts. I like that each dog lives in a house whose roof matches it's own ears (a pointy roof for the point-eared dog...). And I think having a dog that is a dog but is invisible even to itself is a nice metaphor of self-discovery but I think other books tell that story better
August 30, 2016
I read this so many times as a child. I'm not sure why I loved it so. I know the other kids were making fun of me at the school library for reading picture books, that's how long I kept reading it. But despite my lingering love for this book, once I stopped reading it, I forgot its name. Thank you, knower-of-all-things Internet, for returning this beloved book to me.
March 15, 2015
An old Caldecott Honor Book. It was actually pretty ordinary though it did have an odd font and an odd almost Buffy-esque use of language. It was also a dog story, which as usual really doesn't do anything for me. Certainly not showing its age as much as it could be.
February 25, 2010
I remember relating to the invisible dog as a small child. I felt so invisible and doubted that I would ever exist. Sadly I could not relate to ever being found...
July 15, 2010
My favorite part is where the dog says, "I'm busy gettin' dizzy."
Read
February 18, 2011Deserves its classic status. Wonderful illustrations. Perhaps his ability to become visible is symbolic of something???
December 20, 2013
Enjoy her drawings.
Caldecott honor.
Caldecott honor.
December 30, 2011
Caldecott Honor Book, 1942
Favorite line:
"He was not very tall
Nor yet very small;
He looked like nothing,
Like nothing at all."
Favorite illustration: pages 26-27
Favorite line:
"He was not very tall
Nor yet very small;
He looked like nothing,
Like nothing at all."
Favorite illustration: pages 26-27
January 21, 2012
My favorite illustrations: page 4 and page 11
I also really like the font used in this book.
I also really like the font used in this book.
June 22, 2012
Finishing up the Minnesota's great pioneer of children's author/illustrator.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews