Kids are funny. (Okay, more accurately, kids are weird, but “funny” is much kinder.) Just this afternoon my older son opted to rest among the trees and read his book rather than watch his little brother’s baseball game. Ten-year-old me would have seen the logic in this move. Adult me was just bewildered, and lured him out of his hiding place with the promise of lemonade.

My point is that you never know what will interest them. We all love reading in my family so I assumed they would love it too. Obviously it has stuck with the older kid, but the younger one is unpredictable. So I didn’t know quite what to expect when I put these books from ONCEKids in front of them.

With titles like “Red Penguin and the Missing Sushi,” and Silent Samurai and the Magnificent Rescue,” the books and DVD’s from ONCEKids are meant to expose children to Asian cultures. But the general idea is sharing, meeting new people, adventure, and more idealistic positive things that kids should learn. The stories are told with engaging, colorful images in quality printed books.

ONCEKids “seeks to expose and excite young readers around the diverse elements from several Asian cultures. Through the stories and supplemental activities and materials ONCEKids stimulates discussions at home, in the classrooms, and among educators and librarians.”

My younger son enjoyed them – he is in 2nd grade, and a developing reader, so they are perfectly at his level. The DVDs are better for even younger children.

I have a set of ONCEKids books and DVD’s to give away to a local winner who would like to pick them up. Please leave a comment here and if you are chosen at random from all entries received before 11:59 PM on Saturday, May 9, I will arrange to get the set to you.