The Discovery of Ramen on Kickstarter

Greetings! Today we launched a Kickstarter campaign for our new book idea The Discovery of Ramen.

Hopefully this will be the first adventure in an ongoing series called The Asian Hall of Fame.

The kids Emma and Ethan see something that piques their curiosity. Lucky for them...POOF! Out of a cloud of smoke comes a cute red panda! Dao can show them how that cool thing was invented in Asia. Dao can guide them back into time and place and bring them to where it all began.

The first journey is about ramen!

There has never been a U.S. children's book about ramen.

We intend to remedy that oversight. Ramen is more popular than ever and millions of people love eating it around the world.

So we hope those ramen lovers will learn about our book idea and support it on Kickstarter.

The tale of ramen starts in Japan in the 1800s. From there, Dao leads Emma and Ethan across the country to explore how these noodles became special. Together they visit restaurants, factories, and museums.

Then they zip through the decades, into outer space and back to America, where ramen mania has gripped the West!

Co-authors Phil Amara (The Treehouse Heroes) and Oliver Chin (Julie Black Belt) unite with artist Juan Calle (Good Dream, Bad Dream) to create a journey that blends travel, history, culture, food, and fun!

We have a special combo of rewards for our Kickstarter backers. So check out our project and we appreciate your support.  With your help, we'll all enjoy fantastic storybook which can be a great gift to give for the upcoming holiday season.

May = Asian Pacific American heritage month

It's that time of year again, when both the USA and Canada commemorate the cultures and contributions of their Asian citizenry. Hooray!

We have 5 new Asian themed stories to share with you this season. We've reprinted children's books authored by Ying Chang Compestine and have redesigned them with new bilingual translations in simplified Chinese.

1) Boy Dumplings: A Tasty Chinese Tale
- illustrated by James Yamasaki

Set in old Beijing, this fun-filled romp follows the travails of a hungry ghost. Perchance he stumbles upon a boy who looks good enough to eat! However, the clever child convinces the ghost to delay his easy meal and instead make the more delicious (but more complicated) recipe of "boy dumplings."

2) then there are 4 stories in our series Amazing Chinese Inventions
- illustrated by YongSheng Xuan

The three Kang brothers, Ting, Pan, and Kùai, always seem to get themselves in a pickle. But using their wits and resources, they produce some of the world's greatest creations!

"Xuan’s colourful illustrations with their thick, bold outlines are eye-catching"
- CM magazine

a) The Story of Chopsticks 

The youngest child, Kùai never got enough to eat. Maybe he can he grab food right off the over, when it is too hot for others to touch...but how? Soon the entire Kang family is eating with sticks. But should the boys bring them to a big wedding banquet?

b) The Story of Noodles

It's time for Mama Kang to win the annual cooking contest. But when she leaves her three sons to oversee making her dumpling wrappers, look out!

Boiled strips of dough end up everywhere! Hmmm, but they do taste good. With no time to waste, the Kangs submit a new dish to the judges.

What will everyone think about their entry of... noodles?


c) The Story of Kites

Protecting the rice during the harvest is a full-time job! Whew!  Shooing hungry birds from their fields never stops. Ting, Pan, and Kùai wonder if there is a better way.

Perhaps they can figure out a way to fly in the sky and beat these birds at their own game. They do have some materials handy.

Ouch! Flying themselves may be out of the question. But maybe they can launch something else!

d) The Story of Paper 

These Kang boys need to pay more attention at school! So their teacher writes messages on their hands to show their parents. How embarassing!

If only their teacher could write on something else.

The brothers brainstorm and come up with an idea that may result in what becomes an indispensable school supply!

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Enjoy these tall tales and another month of celebrating Asian themes and adventures!

Culture Camp in Colorado

We hope you had a good Labor Day Weekend. Immedium author Oliver Chin spent his holiday at the final summer Heritage camp of the year in Fraser, Colorado. There he shared his Asian American (Tales from the Chinese Zodiac, Julie Black Belt) and other story books with families nationwide.

A two hour drive from Denver, the YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch is nestled in the Rocky Mountains. The facility grounds cover a startlingly wide expanse. For the car-less, this made walking a necessary and good workout in the mile high air.

The camp's area seems even wider to those campers who remember how a forest used to blanket the terrain between the lodges. It was so thick that one couldn't even see the next cabin through the trees. After the arrival of the infamous pine beetle, the trees died in the thousands during the past few years. These multi-story matchsticks had to be chopped down (and sometimes are visible in big piles, looking like a stack of twigs in the distance), leaving the surroundings strangely barren to those who remember verdant green woods.

However this desolate contextual memory stands in startling contrast to the vibrant proceedings of the camp itself. This year the theme was "Folktales". Attendance was the highest ever in the camp's 14 year history. Dozens of programs for preschoolers to parents filled three days to the brim.

Oliver taught one hundred precocious 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders how to create their own "zodiac" animals stories as 4 page comic books. Plus he managed to sooth the savage beasts of "post lunch" preschoolers by drawing a big dragon and reading The Year of the Dog.

One of many culture camps held during the summer, this was the 2nd Chinese session. which is aimed at families who have adopted children from China. The program (staffed by local college students who act as counselors) offers many sessions for kids (mainly girls with a handful of boys and non-adopted children) to learn and participate in cultural traditions from a land they don't quite remember. Parents volunteer in a myriad of ways (from cooking to teaching), and learn some ways to help their children come to grips with their dual Asian and American-ness, while their families simultaneous cope with a spectrum of "adoption" issues.

This was a whirlwind weekend full of inspirational friendship that spanned age and geography. Immedium was privileged to be a part of it, and appreciated the opportunity to meet new people who are eager to learn about and proud of their Asian-American identity.