New Book Announcement: I Illustrated "Boys Can Do Anything Girls Can Do" — and It's Finally Here! 🎉📚
- A.Karabach
- Jul 21
- 3 min read
Hi, I'm Alena, a children's book illustrator, and I'm so happy to share that a book I illustrated, Boys Can Do Anything Girls Can Do by S. M. Chui, is officially published and available in paperback on Amazon!
Have you ever heard your kid say, "I can't do that, that's for girls"?
And when you gently reply, "That's not true," you get the side-eye... or worse.
Well, this book is for exactly that moment. It's a gentle reminder that just like girls can do anything boys can do, boys can do anything girls can do too.
A Little Bit About This Project
I started working on these illustrations almost two years ago, and this book has genuinely stayed close to my heart the whole time. Susan (writing under the pen name S. M. Chui) came to me with a simple but powerful idea: a picture book showing a little boy who bakes, sews, feeds the baby, plays baseball, sings, hugs, and dreams of being a dad, a nurse, an astronaut, a coach — all without ever being told any of it is "not for boys."
What I loved most about illustrating this book was how much care Susan put into every tiny detail — right down to making sure the boy took the waffles out of the toaster by hand instead of using a fork (safety first, mama bear energy!), making sure his baseball uniform actually looked like a real uniform, and making sure his little sister's joy while feeding her doll felt just as real as his joy feeding the baby. Those little back-and-forths, page by page, are what made this book feel so personal and true — it wasn't just an assignment, it became a shared project between an author who deeply cared about getting it right and an illustrator who wanted every page to feel warm and honest.
Along the way, life happened for both of us — deadlines slipped, and Susan even had to step away for a while after losing her mother. Seeing this book finally out in the world after everything it took to get here means a lot to me.
Why This Book Matters to Me
As an illustrator, I get to help decide how a story feels before a child even reads a single word. With this book, I wanted every page to say: it's okay to be soft, it's okay to care about a baby sibling or a broken doll, it's okay to want to cook, sew, or cry — being a boy doesn't mean shrinking any part of yourself. Drawing that little boy sewing his sister's doll, or holding his baby sibling so gently, was one of my favorite spreads to work on. It's a small moment, but it says everything this book is about.
About the New Book
Boys Can Do Anything Girls Can Do By S. M. Chui (Author) · Illustrated by Alena Karabach 📖 Format: Paperback | Now available on Amazon & Barnes & Noble
Whether it's building a dollhouse, strumming a guitar, playing ball, singing a lullaby like any other Dad or Mom, doing the dishes, or giving a hug — this heartfelt children's picture book shows kids there's no such thing as "boy jobs" and "girl jobs." There's only kindness, curiosity, and confidence.
It's a warm, joyful read for:
Parents raising emotionally strong, open-minded kids
Teachers building inclusive classroom libraries
Gift-givers looking for a meaningful children's picture book for baby showers, birthdays, or back-to-school
Anyone who wants their child to know: never let them forget how amazing they are.
Interested in Working Together?
This book was brought to life through soft, storybook-style children's book illustrations, built page by page in close collaboration with the author. If you're an author working on a picture book and looking for a children's book illustrator who genuinely cares about getting your story right, I'd love to hear from you.
✨ Get your copy of "Boys Can Do Anything Girls Can Do" today and share the message that every child deserves to hear: you can do anything.
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