Julia Kuo – illustratör

Yoshio thinks Tokyo sounds like a symphony hall! He delights in everyday sounds--shoes squishing through puddles, raindrops pattering down, and lots of giggles! But one day he meets a musician who tells Yoshio that her favorite sound is ma, the Japanese word for the sound of silence. Yoshio must hear this! But how can he find it amid the hustle and bustle of the city?In the vein of Wabi Sabi, this book explains a sophisticated Japanese concept in a child-friendly way.

When American-born, Wong Kim Ark returns home to San Francisco after a visit to China, he's stopped and told he cannot enter: he isn't American. What happens next would forever change the national conversation on who is, and can be, American. Wong Kim Ark takes his case to the Supreme Court and argues that, as stated in the 14th Amendment, any person born in America should be granted American citizenship regardless of their race. Despite protests from xenophobic lawmakers, Wong Kim Ark ultimately prevails.

With tender language and striking art, I Dream of Popo follows a young girl as she and her family emigrate from Taiwan to San Diego, leaving behind the narrator's maternal grandmother, Popo.The story touches on learning a new language, acclimating to a new home, and the changing relationship the child maintains with her beloved Popo even when they are apart. Over time, their visits are fleeting, but their love is ever true and strong.This delicate, emotionally rich picture book celebrates a special connection that crosses time zones and oceans as Popo and her granddaughter hold each other in their hearts forever.

Sometimes we leave home in the mornings, in the evenings, or for much longer. But we always come back.Home becomes wish when we move, when the new place isn’t the same. Everything might be different: the sounds, the smell, the people, the weather.But home isn’t just a place. We carry home in our hearts, and it can grow and change as we do in our lives. With time, new faces become friends, and what is different becomes familiar.Home can be a wish that comes true.

There is bad luck, good luck, and making your own luck—which is exactly what Summer must do to save her family in this winner of the National Book Award by Newbery Medalist Cynthia Kadohata.Summer knows that kouun means “good luck” in Japanese, and this year her family has none of it. Just when she thinks nothing else can possibly go wrong, an emergency whisks her parents away to Japan—right before harvest season. Summer and her little brother, Jaz, are left in the care of their grandparents, who come out of retirement in order to harvest wheat and help pay the bills. The thing about Obaachan and Jiichan is that they are old-fashioned and demanding, and between helping Obaachan cook for the workers, covering for her when her back pain worsens, and worrying about her lonely little brother, Summer just barely has time to notice the attentions of their boss’s cute son. But notice she does, and what begins as a welcome distraction from the hard work soon turns into a mess of its own. Having thoroughly disappointed her grandmother, Summer figures the bad luck must be finished—but then it gets worse. And when that happens, Summer has to figure out how to change it herself, even if it means further displeasing Obaachan. Because it might be the only way to save her family. Cynthia Kadohata’s ode to the breadbasket of America has received six starred reviews and won the National Book Award.

A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2019 A Japanese-American family, reeling from their ill treatment in the Japanese internment camps, gives up their American citizenship to move back to Hiroshima, unaware of the devastation wreaked by the atomic bomb in this piercing look at the aftermath of World War II by Newbery Medalist Cynthia Kadohata.World War II has ended, but while America has won the war, twelve-year-old Hanako feels lost. To her, the world, and her world, seems irrevocably broken. America, the only home she’s ever known, imprisoned then rejected her and her family—and thousands of other innocent Americans—because of their Japanese heritage, because Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japan, the country they’ve been forced to move to, the country they hope will be the family’s saving grace, where they were supposed to start new and better lives, is in shambles because America dropped bombs of their own—one on Hiroshima unlike any other in history. And Hanako’s grandparents live in a small village just outside the ravaged city. The country is starving, the black markets run rampant, and countless orphans beg for food on the streets, but how can Hanako help them when there is not even enough food for her own brother? Hanako feels she could crack under the pressure, but just because something is broken doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed. Cracks can make room for gold, her grandfather explains when he tells her about the tradition of kintsukuroi—fixing broken objects with gold lacquer, making them stronger and more beautiful than ever. As she struggles to adjust to find her place in a new world, Hanako will find that the gold can come in many forms, and family may be hers.

Be inspired by this fun compilation sketchbook of four favorite volumes from Quarry Books' 20 Ways series!Designed to offer artists, designers, and doodlers a fun and sophisticated collection of illustration fun, each spread features 20 inspiring illustrated examples of 135 themes, over 3600 drawings total! From trees and flowers to animals and sea creatures and everything in between. Don't worry, there's tons of room for you to draw your own versions of these amazing doodles right on the pages.This is not a step-by-step technique book - within the pages you'll find drawings simplified, modernized, and reduced to the most basic elements, showing you how simple abstract shapes and forms create the building blocks of any item that you want to draw. Each of the 20 interpretations provides a different, interesting approach to drawing a single item, providing loads of inspiration for your own drawing. These four artists each have a uniquely creative style, resulting in an engaging and motivational practice book that provides a new take on the world of sketching, doodling, and designing.

In this “surprisingly simple yet mesmerizing introduction to a wonder of the natural world” (Kirkus STARRED Review), kids aged 4 to 8 will marvel at the science of bioluminescence through stunning images of glowing creatures and other organisms.When it’s dark out, we need light to see. But what if your body could make its own light?From acclaimed author-illustrator Julia Kuo comes a remarkable picture book about bioluminescence, the light made from living things, and its many forms: fireflies and foxfire, fungi and glow-worms, deep-sea fish and vampire squids.Kuo’s radiant art portrays a young child and adult discovering different bioluminescent creatures, accompanied by simple lyrical text and informative sidebars that reveal fascinating scientific facts about each of them.An introduction to an extraordinary natural phenomenon, Luminous shines a light upon how truly wondrous the world is.Luminous features:Brilliant and unique illustrations: The depiction of vibrant bioluminescent species against an unusual black backdrop creates an unforgettable visual experience for readers.The science of bioluminescence: Shares the real-life magic of bioluminescence with sidebars about the various places and species in which bioluminescence is found.Text can be read on two levels: Kuo’s simple and poetic narrative is accompanied by scientific facts about bioluminescence.