What if the emperor who had no clothes wished to be naked from the start? This is the question that drives the plot of The King and Nothing, a humorous take on the ridiculous greed of the oligarchy, first published in French in 2022. 

The King, when we meet him, has a serious case of Nietzschean buyer’s remorse. He has it all: “And when I say everything, I mean ‘everything’: caterpillars on bicycles, bicycles with caterpillar wheels, elephants without trunks, storm clouds that refused to make lightning, caramel flavoured ice skates…”

Yet the King is unsatisfied because what he lacks is “nothing” itself. He’s troubled not only by the lack of it, but by the fact that what constitutes “nothing” evades him. No amount of vacuuming or desert walking brings him closer to finding “nothing.” Alas, the material world asserts its dominance. 

The King’s mission raises some eyebrows. “But why does he want nothing?” my young test reader asked, exasperated. “Spend an afternoon picking up all your Legos and toys and perhaps you’ll get the idea,” I thought to myself. 

A primer on existentialism and a caution against overconsumption (but not necessarily a tome on the moral imperative to redistribute wealth), The King and Nothing is a delightfully complex story, rich with cheeky wordplay and illustrated in a bright, cartoonish style. 

And while the King may finally be satiated by scarcity, rest assured, dear reader, that, as in Andersen’s folktale, the last laugh is reserved for you.mRb