Let’s Do Everything and Nothing
pub. March 22, 2022 • Roaring Brook Press • Written by Julia Kuo
Let's Do Everything and Nothing is my “lush and lyrical” debut picture book celebrating special moments—big and small—shared with a child.
Will you climb a hill with me?
Dive into a lake with me?
Reach the starry sky with me,
and watch the clouds parade?
Love can feel as vast as a sky full of breathtaking clouds or as gentle as a sparkling, starlit night. It can scale the tallest mountains and reach the deepest depths of the sea.
Standing side by side with someone you love, the unimaginable can seem achievable.
But not every magical moment is extraordinary. Simply being together is the best journey of all.
Launch Party and Other Events
Recorded: Launch Party with University Bookstore
Moderated by Justina Chen
Signed books and personalized copies available
Sunday, April 3, 2022 at 11am PST
Picture Book Launch Extravaganza with Books of Wonder
Signed books available
Sunday, March 20, 2022 at 10am PST, Virtual Event
Visual AAPI Storytelling: Twitter Spaces Conversation
With Journalist Vignesh Ramachandran and Graphic Novelist Laura Gao
Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at 9am PST, Virtual Event
Recorded: Panel on Incidental Diversity in Asian American Children's Books
With Editor Connie Hsu and AAPI Scholar Dr. Sarah Park Dahlen
Thursday, April 7, 2022 at 12pm PST, Virtual Event
Storytime and Signing With CityLit
Saturday, April 30, 2022 at 11am CST, In-Person Event
Gaithersburg Book Festival
May 21, 2022, In-Person Event
Order the Book
Articles
Interview with Max’s Boat
Guest blog for Scary Mommy
Interview with The Creative Librarian
Interview with Reading Asian America
Mandarin article in World Journal / 世界日報
Guest article for the International Examiner
Honors
Children's Book Committee's 2023 Best Children's Books of the Year list
March/April 2022 Kids’ Indie Next List
Let’s Do Everything and Nothing on the TODAY Show
Society of Illustrators 2022 Original Art Show
Let’s Do Everything and Nothing is a Best of 2022 Bookstagang Picture Book for Best Illustration
Resources
Listen to Julia read "Let’s Do Everything and Nothing” for the Wing Luke Museum
Download an activity kit for Let’s Do Everything and Nothing
Children’s Book Week Drawing Activity
Julia Kuo's name pronunciation on TeachingBooks
Learn About How I Work
Learn about my inspiration for Let’s Do Everything and Nothing
Critical Praise
"A mother and her young daughter, cued as Taiwanese American, explore the world together.
The two climb a snowy mountain, swim with manta rays in the ocean, stargaze, “follow trails on summer nights,” lie in a field to watch cloud parades of “majestic beasts,” and more. Readers will decide whether these remarkable adventures are real or metaphors for the imaginative worlds mother and daughter explore while spending the day together indoors.”
"With just a single picturesque sentence per double-page spread, Kuo creates a sweeping yet intimate narrative about the experiences of contentment and togetherness that make even small moments seem extraordinary and that anchor us through life’s highs and lows.”
“A quiet book with a loud message about the everyday things that create constancy in a world of ephemeral pleasures."
- Kirkus Review
”A marvelous journey unfolds throughout this gentle paean to family and imagination.”
"Kuo’s digital art beckons readers to a meditative odyssey that shifts seamlessly from breathtaking spectacle to quiet intimacy. Text reflects action in brief, well-chosen phrases, by turns inviting (“Will you climb a hill with me?”), pensive, (“We’ll share the quiet twilight hour”) and joyful (“Being together is the best journey yet”).”
“VERDICT This stirring ode to the love between parent and child is a must-have for all collections.”
– School Library Journal Starred Review, Jonah Dragan
Illustrator Julia Kuo makes her authorial debut with Let’s Do Everything and Nothing, a simple yet powerful salute to mothers and daughters and the time they spend together. With spare text and phenomenal illustrations, Kuo pays homage to epic scenes, intimate moments and everything in between.
- Bookpage Starred Review
"Rest is really an internal state of harmoniousness and of being untethered from life’s pressures regardless of what we are doing. Yet there is value in showing young readers that doing nothing (or very little) sometimes is valuable and worthy of respect. For this reason, the picture book Let’s Do Everything and Nothing by Julia Kuo, which beautifully equipoises a mother’s and daughter’s outdoor adventures and their hours of tranquil, uneventful intimacy, is noteworthy."
- Kirkus Reviews feature, "Giving Children a Heritage of Rest and Renewal."
"Taiwanese American illustrator Kuo makes her authorial debut with this quiet yet expansive story celebrating the bond between a mother and daughter. The mother and daughter embark on a series of imaginative quests at all sorts of altitudes throughout the natural world... Kuo's warm scenes in sunset colors match the close, cozy tone of the story, and the expansiveness of the landscapes emphasizes the sense of possibility in the pair's imaginative adventures, which can also be interpreted as metaphors for life's journeys."
- Booklist, Vivian Alvarez
”Togetherness is at the heart of this serene book by Kuo, making her solo debut. Framed by a series of single-sentence invitations (“Will you climb a hill with me?”) and stated plans (“We’ll follow trails on summer nights”), the book pictures an adult and child, cued as of Taiwanese heritage, together experiencing the mundane and the adventurous. Kuo’s distinctive digital illustrations, both delicate and bold, pop off the page, relying on a rich palette of coral, cornflower blue, and marigold hues…”
- Publisher’s Weekly
"Let's Do Everything and Nothing is perfect for new families. It gorgeously encapsulates the love and joy in the infinitesimal moments of simply existing together. It's heartwarming, beautiful to look at, and carries a lovely message."
-Cristina Russell, Books & Books, Coral Gables, Fla.