Nothing, by Michael Molinet, is a children’s adventure book that centers around one boy’s “uneventful” day of nothing, or so he describes it to his mother. While the young boy casually details his day of getting up and going through regular routines, the illustrations show something completely different spliced in, somewhat of an Indiana Jones type of adventure, as he maneuvers his way around crocodiles and jungle vines to reach his bowl of cereal. The illustrations and text are beautifully rendered in graphic novel style, which instantly wraps you up in a particular way that only a graphic novel can. Michael Molinet, as both writer and artist, puts to the page such a delightful representation of a story that it is without comparison. Reading it and seeing it come to life is like trying to taste a symphony or smell a memory from Christmas twenty-five years ago.

In Michael Molinet’s Nothing, I am reminded somewhat fondly of The Princess Bride. However, instead of the “grandfather” telling the story, it is the “son.” There is so much to love about Nothing that you can’t help but try to inject your own life with the same type of adventure formula that the little boy does in his own life. The story is so relatable, a mother sitting with her son at night asking about his day, trying to extract as much as she can because she knows. more than her son, how fleeting time really is and how years can feel like minutes. Michael Molinet’s Nothing is a ride for all your senses.

Nothing is a work of children's fiction penned by author Michael Molinet. An ordinary day may not be so typical after all. A young boy is questioned about his day at bedtime, and his mother wants to know everything. Each question she asks, like “what did you do today?” and “what did you do in school today?” is met with the standard one-word answer: “Nothing.” But with a little more prodding from his mother, the young boy is opening up a world of possibilities of what could, or did, happen in the course of his day. It was a day filled with more than getting up, dressed, eating breakfast, and going to school; a day full of adventures with great friends, some real, some imagined.

Michael Molinet’s graphical work for young readers proves that Nothing is precisely the opposite: much more than "nothing." Whilst the question/answer approach between mother and son appears simple enough, the pictures tell a different story, one of safari adventures in the jungle, space life where recess is quite literally spent in outer space, where the friends “just floated around the playground.” After school, the adventure continues with medieval knights and a damsel in distress, and there are endless battles to be fought and won. Isn’t imagination wonderful? What he shares with his mother is humdrum, but the pictures divulge a far bigger world of possibilities. And, as his mother says good-night, it’s interesting that she has accepted this dull, mundane day as to how her son described it, because she says, “As you get older, you will learn that not every day can be the best day ever.” But the young boy’s day isn’t over yet, because there’s always dreamland. And that opens up a whole new avenue of imaginative adventures. Nothing is a fun read that will inspire young readers to follow their imaginations and create real and imaginary experiences.