Almost Nothing, yet Everything: A Book about Water by Hiroshi Osada and Ryoji Arai

Existing in myriad forms, containing multitudes in its reflection, and coursing through each and every one of us, water sustains the world around us—and life itself.

Artist Ryōji Arai and poet Hiroshi Osada, the Japanese team behind critically acclaimed Every Color of Light, offer up another meditation on the natural world in this ode to water. A lyrical moment between parent and child in a boat on a river unfolds into an examination of the water that surrounds them, and the nature and life sustained by it: "It’s only oxygen and hydrogen. Simple as could be, and yet nothing means more to life as we know it." 

Arai's lush art and Osada's evocative poetry, beautifully translated from Japanese by David Boyd, work together to enchant readers and refresh their spirit, opening their eyes to the wonders of water, the universe, and life.

Age Range: 4 - 7 years

About the Author:

Hiroshi Osada was born in Fukushima City in 1939. He graduated from Waseda University in 1963. Two years later, he debuted as a poet with This Journey. In 1982, he received the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award for The Bookstore of the Century. In 1991, he won the Robō-no-ishi Literary Prize for The Making of Memories. In 2000, his collaboration with Ryōji Arai, A Forest Picture Book, earned the Kōdansha Publishing Culture Award for Children’s Literature. His second collaboration with Ryōji Arai, Every Color of Light, followed. He died in 2015.