Thursday, December 18, 2014

Click to Watch the New Trailers for ONCEKids' Animated Books, "Green Hamster and the Quest For Fun" and "Red Penguin and the Missing Sushi"

Here at ONCEKids we could not be more excited following the release of the trailers for our first two animated books; Green Hamster and the Quest For Fun and Red Penguin and the Missing Sushi. Thanks to the very talented Ryan Mawhar, the previews for the two animated books are completed and ready to be viewed! Click the videos below to watch and be sure to visit our website to read more about our animated books as well as the rest of Eileen Wacker’s Fujimini Adventure Series collection. 


Click below to watch the trailer for Green Hamster and the Quest for Fun 


Click below to watch the trailer for Red Penguin and the Missing Sushi


Saturday, December 13, 2014

ONCEKids Gets Ready For Christmas By Donating Over 1000 Books To Children in Need

At First Book, a national nonprofit organization, they believe that one of the most important factors and issues affecting literacy is children’s access to books, which often times can be quite limited. Since their inception in 1992, First Book has distributed over 100 million books to children across the country and raised $32,000. 

The staff at ONCEKids wanted to help First Book work towards their goal of providing books and the gift of reading to kids in need, so for the holiday ONCEKids author Eileen Wacker generously donated 300 brand new children’s books. Six cases, one case for each book, was shipped to the organization December 4th. Six of the seven books that make up the Fujimini Adventure Series, made up the 300-book donation, including Green Hamster and the Quest For Fun, Pink Hamster and the Birthday Surprise, Rainbow Panda and the Firecracker Fiasco, Black Tortoise and the Dynasty Dragon, Red Penguin and the Missing Sushi, and Silent Samurai and the Magnificent Rescue. 

ONCEKids CEO Wacker also wanted to make sure all the children at Seattle Children’s Hospital have books to love and cherish in time for the holidays, so over 350 books were donated to the hospital. All of the books donated go directly to into the hospital to be used for the comfort and entertainment throughout the duration of their stay, or for the hospital to use any way it sees fit to comfort children, especially in the holiday season. Random acts of kindness can have a profound effect on others, and Wacker hopes that more organizations might feel inspired to give as much as they can. A gift of literacy is appreciated, a gift of kindness is unparalleled. 

ONCEKids also gave 300 books to Barrett Russell Kindergarten. Santa will be handing the books out to children as they exit school for winter break so that every kindergartener will have a book to read for the holidays. In this school, 84% of kids get free breakfast and lunch and most of the children have few or no books at home.

Reading is one of the most essential and enjoyable parts of childhood, and every child deserves to know the love and joy that can come from a book. Eileen Wacker and the other dedicated members of the ONCEKids staff wanted to help organizations like First Kids and Seattle Children’s Hospital as well as schools like Barrett Russell Kindergarten give children the gift of reading this holiday season.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Accomplished Composer and Musician Alexander Tovar Contributes His Talents For ONCEKids Animated Book Music

Alexander Tovar wears many hats. Besides being the amazing composer of our animated books, Mr. Tovar is an accomplished director, producer, screenwriter, musician, editor, AND actor. Wow, that is quite a list! 

The talented artist began his long and accomplished career when he wrote his first opera at the age of just ten years old. He continued exploring his love of writing and music through high school when he studied the trumpet, piano and the guitar. Following high school, Tovar moved to New York to study and work with Philip Glass. After returning to his roots in the West Coast, he studied philosophy and graduated from USC with a BM in music composition. 

His music has been played all over the country including on the public radio and in front of Disney Hall. He has worked with a variety of other talented artists including Van Dyke Parks and Roger Neil. His recent works include writing the book and music to the musical “Mr. Genius” and the production of his very first film, “Nothing in Los Angeles”

The film, “Nothing In Los Angeles”, describes an aspiring artist who becomes romantically involved with an older woman and soon finds himself falling in love with his best friend’s wife. It been the winner of several awards including “Best Narrative Feature”, “Best Filmed Screenplay”, “Best Actor”, and “Best Actress” as well as being the official selection of the Cinequest Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival. 

We could not be more proud and excited to have such a talented addition to our books and look forward to his many accomplishments to come! 



Turn Your Smartphone Into a Polaroid Camera With This New Case

Most phone cases are designed and purposed for protection or fashion, but small French startup company Prynt had something else in mind with their new phone case design. They have developed a case that instantly turns your smartphone into a polaroid camera after working on it for almost an entire year. The design works by sending the photo to the case via Bluetooth and then immediately printing it by heating paper filled with ink. 

Their current version takes only 50 seconds to turn the digital photo into a printed picture and holds one piece of paper at a time. But Prynt is not settling, they say they plan on developing a model that can hold 10-30 pieces of paper at one time and print the picture within 30 seconds! To make this possible, they will have to come up with a design that has better hardware integration and a direct physical connection between the phone and case.  

Prynt CEO Clement Perrot says the case will only cost $99 when it is made available early next year and will be able to support all phones with a $4.x inch screens. So if you are looking for a Christmas present or birthday present for someone who loves taking and printing pictures than this is the perfect gift for them! Preorder it for a Christmas surprise and it will be available for use in early 2015.