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.

Happy Chinese New Year - 2014 is The Year of the Horse!

We ring in the lunar new year with the 9th adventure in our Tales from the Chinese Zodiac series -  The Year of the Horse!

9 years already? Boy, time flies when you're having fun.

That we've certainly had in abundance during the past decade. Yet when we started, we knew we'd have a lot of ground to cover too. Think about it...when was the last time you've willingly embarked on a 12 year project where you had to make a product every year?

You parents out there know what we're talking about, when I say that having a child becomes much more than a 12 year project. But then would you want to have another baby the next year, and so on, and so on?

Well, without getting too philosophical about it (or straying into the familially fraught territory of TLC's reality TV show 19 Kids and Counting), let's just say we embarked willingly and with brio.

One of our goals was to publish fresh, meaningful stories about Asian American themes and characters. So this hitting upon concept was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. I mean no one had ever published a series of stories on each of the Chinese zodiac animals before in English (only later did we learn that a Chinese publisher had done so in Asia, but the tales were much different).

But let's get back to FUN.

2014's heroine is Hannah the Horse. She exemplifies the positive can-do attitude of kids who want to make their mark in the world and enjoy their journey at the same time.

Artist Jennifer Wood notches her 3rd straight hit (following Dragon and Snake) and displays her personal predilection for horses with vibrant scenes of Hannah and her pal Tom energetically romping through colorful vistas. These friends are simply joyful, just like any kids at play.

January 31, 2014 was the first day but the celebrations will kick into higher gears in the coming weeks. Jennifer presented at Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena today, and will read at Vroman's Bookstore on 2/8.

Meanwhile author Oliver Chin visits Southern California this week as well. He participates in the Bowers Museum's festival in Santa Ana tomorrow on 2/2 (quite a Super Sunday). Then he'll travel to many schools and libraries across Los Angeles - check out our event calendar.

In a way, the creators are emulating Hannah's trek to share the fruits of artistic creativity, one of which is the common experience of fun.www.immedium.com/products/yearofhorse.htmlwww.immedium.com/products/yearofhorse.htmlwww.immedium.com/products/yearofhorse.html

New book: I'm the Scariest Thing in the Jungle!

David Derrick (www.davederrick.com) is a veritable creative font. A story artist at DreamWorks Feature Animation by day, he has contributed to the movies Rise of the Guardians, How to Train Your Dragon, and Megamind. But at the same time, he has been imagining new stories chock full of animals that have the same bubbly enthusiasm and curiosity that kids have.

In 2010, Immedium published Dave's debut storybook Sid the Squid and the Search for the Perfect Job, which recently got a glowing endorsement from the Picture Book Review.

In 2010, we produced Dave's 2nd tale Animals Don't, So I Won't!, which is now sold at venues such at the Los Angeles Zoo and Hogle's Zoo in Utah.

This year, we complete the hat trick with Dave's newest romp I'm the Scariest Thing in the Jungle! In the wilds of India, the Bengal tiger is the king of the land but the saltwater crocodile is the master of the water. What will happen when the kids of these two fearsome beasts meet? Well, this will make the UFC look like kindergarten playtime...let's get ready to ruuuuuuumble!

Earlier in September, we displayed our sample copy at the annual convention of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in Kansas City, MO. As expected, it was a big hit among these professional animal lovers and we took a bunch of pre-orders! Now you too can get your own copy - this time autographed by Dave himself with a unique animal sketch and free postcard!

Enjoy the trailer which features Dave's expressive character designs and beautiful watercolors:

Meet Dave as he reads at stores and museums throughout Southern California in October and Utah in November.