Asianmommy Reviews

Asianmommy.com received a free gift certificate from Novica to purchase an item for review.  Novica is one of the leading fair trade artisan websites. They work with National Geographic to showcase the works of thousands of artisans in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, making their beautiful creations available to the US and to the world market.  Novica sells home decor, apparel, paintings, and sterling silver jewelry, including earrings and necklaces.

Asianmommy.com chose to receive some sterling silver cuff bracelets, named "Ribbon Twist" by Aoy in Thailand.  They came nicely packaged in a box.  With them, came an artisan story card and a postcard from Thailand with a thank you message.  I really love the beauty and the simple design of this silver bracelet. 

After placing the order, I received 3 emails--one to confirm the order, one to notify me of the shipment and its estimated arrival date, and another to give me the FedEx tracking number.  I received the jewelry 10 days after placing the order.  Not bad, considering that I placed the order just before the Fourth of July weekend and that it was coming all the way from Thailand. 

What I liked:  I appreciated the variety of unique items available on the Novica website and the fact that they are providing talented artisans from around the world access to the world market.  Fair trade and compensation for the artists is a plus.  The jewelry is of nice quality, is lovely, and is reasonably priced.  Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase and with the customer service provided by Novica.

What could be improved:  Nothing, except perhaps they could expand the program to include more artisans from other parts of the world.

Leave a comment for a chance to win a $75 gift certificate to Novica! 
This giveaway is only open to US residents.  One entry per person.  Contest ends at midnight CST on July 23, 2010.  A random winner will be selected.  Please be sure to enter an email address (to be kept confidential) so I can contact the winner.  The winner has 3 days to claim their prize. 

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Congratulations to Guest 6, the winner of our contest!!

For review purposes, Asianmommy.com was given a free copy of Delivering Happiness:  A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com.  Tony is a Taiwanese American entrepreneur, who co-founded LinkExchange, which was sold to Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million.  Later, he joined Zappos, became the CEO, and facilitated the acquisition of Zappos by Amazon.com for over $1.2 billion in 2009.

The book is written in the first person, giving the reader a personal view of Tony’s life and his ideas for succeeding in business.  I enjoyed reading about Tony’s typical Asian American childhood experience:  the pressure from his parents to do well academically, to become a doctor or a PhD, and to excel at playing a musical instrument (or several in his case!).  But Tony had a different plan for his future.  At the age of 9, Tony developed his first money-making scheme, a plan to grow earthworms and to sell them for a profit.  That plan was a flop, but his later button-making scheme became quite profitable.

After graduating from college, Tony got a job at Oracle, but found it to be unfulfilling and decided to form his own company building websites for other businesses.  That eventually led to building LinkExchange, starting an investment fund called Venture Frogs, and getting involved with Zappos. 

Over time, Tony figured out that great customer service would be what made his company stand out from all of the rest.  Zappos provided free shipping & free returns, free upgrades to overnight shipping, and easy access to customer service representatives, who went above and beyond to WOW their customers.  Later, the focus turned to Zappos’ culture and values, which include delivering WOW, embracing change, building team spirit, as well as being fun, passionate, creative, open-minded, honest, and humble.  Eventually, the vision and purpose of Zappos became to deliver happiness to the world.  This book was written to share Tony’s secret to success:  making your customers happier, making your employees happier, and making yourself happier.

What I liked:  I enjoyed reading Tony’s personal stories about his life, his successes as well as his failures.  I also think his message is spot-on:  how bringing happiness to others can bring happiness to oneself, in business and in life.

What could be improved:  I don’t really have any complaints.

“Chinese for Munchkins" is a new iPhone app designed for kids ages 2 and up, which teaches Mandarin and Cantonese to little ones in a fun way.  This app was developed by Heidy Yu Spurrell and Lisa Ting, 2 moms of bilingual kids.  It normally costs $1.99, but Asianmommy.com received this app for free.

This app works for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.  Basically, the app shows flashcards with 20 different animals and the corresponding Chinese characters, pinyin, and English.  You can click on the words to hear them in Mandarin, Cantonese, or English.  There are also flashcards for the numbers 1 through 20, plus a memory match game, and a game of counting and collecting pigs. 

What I liked:  This app is cute and enjoyable for kids.  They love to count and to learn the names of different animals.  It’s a great introduction to Chinese for little ones.  The illustrations are adorable, and it’s fun when the animals spin around.  It’s fantastic that you can choose to learn Mandarin or Cantonese.  I also appreciated that you can turn off the accompanying background music if you want to.

What could be improved:  I can’t comment on the accuracy of the Cantonese speaker (who is a native speaker), and but the Mandarin speaker (a non-native speaker) could be better—some of the tones just don’t sound quite right to me.

*Edited to add:  I have just learned that the Mandarin segments are being re-recorded by a native Mandarin speaker, and they are working to put out an updated edition of this app.

Chinese New Year is coming up soon, and 2K Play has a new Nintendo DS game for preschoolers called “Ni Hao, Kai-lan:  New Year’s Celebration.”  Asianmommy.com received this product from 2K Play for free.

Fans of the show “Ni Hao, Kai-lan” will love this game.  It’s designed specifically for preschoolers—easy enough for them to play on their own, and provides encouraging hints when they need help.  It’s just right for kids ages 3 to 5.  In order to do the activities, they’ll need to be able to tap, scribble, drag, and trace with the stylus and blow or speak into the microphone.  To prepare for Chinese New Year, the players will wake everyone up, clean up the house, go shopping for clothes, pick up ingredients to make Chinese dumplings, bake almond cookies, serve food for dinner, and then wash the dishes--all with Kai-lan and her friends.  They’ll identify colors and shapes in the lantern parade, make gift envelopes, color a dragon mask, make a lantern, and play musical instruments.  Finally, they’ll trace shapes and create a beautiful fireworks display.

What I liked:  Overall, this is a fun game for little ones, especially for those who are already familiar with the TV show "Ni Hao, Kai-lan."  The graphics are cute, the activities review colors and shapes, and the kids get to learn a little bit about Chinese culture.  My daughter is 5, and her favorite activities were coloring the dragon mask & the gift envelope, lighting the lanterns, and making almond cookies.  She really enjoyed the entire game.

What could be improved:  I wish that more Chinese words and phrases were incorporated into the game.   Ideally, this game would be bilingual, and offer kids the opportunity to learn their colors and shapes in Mandarin Chinese, as well as in English.

The Year of the Tiger is the 5th book in the series Tales from the Chinese Zodiac by Oliver Chin.  Asianmommy.com received a PDF version of this book for free.

2010 is the year of the Tiger.  According to the Chinese Zodiac, Tigers are bold, proud, courageous, and charismatic.  They can be unpredictable and secretive, but they make the fiercest of friends.

In this story, Teddy the tiger is born & raised in the jungle.  He is warned to stay away from humans, but his curiosity leads him to go to the village and spy on a little girl named Su.  Su is frightened at first, but she and Teddy soon become friends.  One day, Su follows Teddy into the forest, accidentally steps on a snake, and falls over a ledge.  Can Teddy save his friend?

What I liked:  I enjoyed how the story introduces the reader to the Chinese Zodiac and the characteristics of the Tiger.  The illustrations by Justin Roth truly bring life to the characters.  My kids really enjoyed this story.

What could be improved:  Again, I would have liked if the publishers had included Pinyin with the Chinese characters for the Zodiac animals, so that we could practice learning a bit of Chinese.

The Octonauts & the Frown Fish by Meomi is a cute little story about the Octonauts, a team of 8 adorable underwater explorers.  Asianmommy.com received a PDF version of this book for free.

In this book, Professor Inkling, Kwazii Kitten, Tweak Bunny, Captain Barnacles Bear, Tunip the Vegimal, Peso Penguin, Shellington Sea Otter, and Sauci Dog were called by the Octo-Alert to help a fish with a very big frown.  They tried to cheer him up with music, a dress-up party, a trip to the Snail Gardens, mini-golf, a robo-tank, pastries, a joke book, and the playground.  What would finally make the Frown Fish smile?  It's up to the Octonauts to find out!

What I liked:  This is a simple and cute story written for preschoolers to early grade schoolers.  My girls, ages 5 & 7, really liked it.  I loved the beautiful & vivid illustrations of the wonderful characters and the lovely & unique ocean floor.

What could be improved:  No real complaints--other than the fact that I think one of the Octonauts is actually a turnip?  :)
 

Julie Black Belt:  The Kung Fu Chronicles, by Oliver Chin, is a lovely story about a young Asian American girl who is learning about the challenges of Kung Fu.  Asianmommy.com received a PDF version of this book for free.

The book begins with Julie's parents asking her if she wants to try out kung fu.  Julie thinks that she knows everything about kung fu, since she always watches her favorite actress, Brandy Wu, in her kung fu action movies.  On the first day of class, Mr. Fong, her teacher, passes out the white belts and teaches the students how to bow and salute.   As Mr. Fong watches Julie struggle with the basic moves, he says to her, "A black belt is just a white belt that doesn't quit."  After months of training hard and learning not to give up, the day of the test comes.  Will Julie be able to earn her yellow belt?

What I liked:  This story emphasizes the importance of working hard and not giving up when striving to reach your goals.  I liked how the author shows a girl gaining self-confidence while learning self-defense.  I also love the beautiful illustrations by Charlene Chua, which bring the story to life.  My girls really enjoyed this story.

What could be improved:  I would love the book more if they included a few Chinese characters with the pinyin and English translations.

The Year of the Ox by Oliver Chin is the fourth book in the series Tales from the Chinese Zodiac.  Asianmommy.com received a PDF version of this book for free.

This is a cute story with wonderful illustrations by Miah Alcorn.  The book begins with an introduction to the Chinese Zodiac. 

Olivia the Ox is good friends with a little girl named Mei.  Olivia tries to plow the fields, fetch the water, bring the rice to be milled, and help out at the market, but somehow always makes a mess of things.  She's eventually told to just stay behind and out of trouble. 

But one day, when the old dam bursts and the village is about to be flooded, everyone else starts to run away.  It's up to Olivia to save the day.  Can she do it?

What I liked:  This story is a great way to introduce kids to the animals of the Chinese Zodiac calendar and to teach them about the personality traits of the Ox.  The illustrations are really the best part of the book--the characters are goofy, fun, and so alive.

What could be improved:  It would've been nice if they had included the Pinyin with the Chinese characters for the animals, for those who would be interested in learning or practicing a little bit of Chinese.