Let's Do Nothing!

by Tony Fucile, Tony Fucile (Illustrator)

Overview

“A hilarious debut told mainly through the zany artwork. . . . The pictures capture the universality of the moment.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

Frankie and Sal have already played every sport and board game invented, baked and eaten batches of cookies, and painted a zillion pictures. What’s left to do? Nothing! Ten seconds of nothing! Can they do it? With a wink to the reader and a command of visual humor, feature-film animator Tony Fucile demonstrates the Zen-like art of doing nothing . . . oops! Couldn’t do it!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763652692
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	04/10/2012
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	397,058
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.60(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	AD490L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Tony Fucile has spent over twenty years designing and animating characters for numerous cartoon feature fi lms, including THE LION KING, FINDING NEMO, and THE INCREDIBLES, for which he was a supervising animator. LET'S DO NOTHING! is his first book. Tony Fucile lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay area.

Editorial Reviews

A hilarious debut…told mainly through the zany artwork…the pictures capture the universality of the moment through the boys’ animated body language, Sal’s imperious glances, and Frankie’s increasing exasperation.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

Increasingly hilarious spreads…a retro touch…a sly energy…that suggests mischief from the get-go.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Exquisite sense of pacing and visual humor.
—Kirkus

Should leave plenty of chuckles in its wake.
—Booklist

Two boys set out to do nothing. Their imaginative stabs at this elusivegoal…add up to a whole lot of something.
—FamilyFun

Tony Fucile has tapped into an aspect of childhood and adulthood in a sharp and amusing way that should ensure his book shelf space at bookstores and libraries for years to come.
—Books4YourKids.com

Simple illustrations in Let's Do Nothing are balanced with words and thinking moments. These illustrations provide the reader with enough details to giggle out loud, yet there are enough quiet moments of introspection.
—Practically Paradise (SLJ blog)

True artistry…the illustrations mirrored the gaiety inspired by the story, and allowed for the author's humor to really shine through his art as well as his words…shows how to really have fun, even when you don't have a million and one toys at your disposable. A great inspiration for the kids of today's techno savvy, digital age.
—Ready Set Read Reviews blog

Will have kids rolling on the floor.
—Shelftalker blog

A hilarious book that will have kids laughing on every page…guaranteed to ignite the imagination of children everywhere.
—Kendal A. Rautzan’s Books to Borrow, Books to Buy

Two thumbs way up for this terrific book. And there is an added bonus. Wiggly children will sit as still as they are capable of sitting to read Let’s Do Nothing again and again.
—Bookends (Booklist blog)

This clever, imaginative story brings loads of laughs.
—Cookie magazine

Fucile’s comic timing is spot-on, and the book is briskly-paced, despite being a book about Doing Nothing…It’s a winner. I hope we see Frankie and Sal again.
—Seven Impossible Things blog

A great book for kids of all ages and would be a wonderful addition to any child’s library.
—Sacramento Book Review

A rousing read aloud for any bored child, this book will refresh long summer days filled with free time.
—Kids Lit blog

Young readers will have tons of fun, thanks to the amusing situations devised by Tony’s Fucile and his clever drawings.
—Journal Inquirer

Pay close attention to – and point out to your kids – the details, particularly Sal’s facial expressions. Those, alone, are worth seeing over and over again.
—The Bookworm

Featured/recommended on Oprah's 2012 Kids Reading List
—Oprah.com

Fucile is brilliant at conveying emotions and telling the story through pictures and just a smidgen of dialogue.
—GeekDad (Wired.com)

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 1–Fucile makes a hilarious debut with this picture book. After playing all kinds of games, reading comic books, and baking “enough cookies to feed a small country,” two boys agree to do “nothing” for 10 seconds. When Sal, the older child, tells Frankie that they are going to sit in chairs and pretend to be statues in the park, the younger boy’s imagination runs wild and ruins the moment. He envisions a flock of pigeons clustering about his stony self and shoos them away. This only frustrates Sal, who tries again and again to think of ways for the two of them to remain absolutely still. Frankie is unable to get this right, always imagining something that causes him to move, from a small dog relieving himself on the boy’s giant redwood self or King Kong climbing his Empire State Building self and stealing his eyeglasses. In the end, when Frankie can no longer hold his breath or keep from blinking, Sal gives up. Relieved, Frankie has a suggestion. The story is told mainly through the zany artwork. Clear, cartoonlike illustrations alternate between generous spreads and vignettes set on white backgrounds. Done in ink, colored pencil, and acrylic, the pictures capture the universality of the moment through the boys’ animated body language, Sal’s imperious glances, and Frankie’s increasing exasperation.–Adrienne Wilson, Edith Wheeler Memorial Library, Monroe, CT

School Library Journal

Two boys, having exhausted all other entertainments (they've "played every sport ever invented...baked enough cookies to feed a small country...read every comic book," and so on), decide to do absolutely nothing. Sal and Frankie set themselves up in chairs for the enterprise, but Frankie's imagination gets the better of him. Told to pretend he's a statue "carved out of stone and stuff," he imagines pigeons alighting all over his granite body and madly starts shooing them away. He tries to imagine himself as a redwood, but a dog lifts his leg on him; as the Empire State Building, he finds King Kong clinging to his roof. Fucile renders his characters against a blue-washed bedroom background, the imaginary sequences in full color with each boy visible as a set of eyes (in Frankie's case, glasses) staring at the reader out of statue, tree trunk or building. His background in animation makes itself felt in the dialogue-based text and exquisite sense of pacing and visual humor. Sal and Frankie's conclusion-that doing nothing is a lot harder than it looks-will ring true with readers young and old. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews