Sikulu & Harambe Review and Giveaway!

Kindness to others-treating others the way we'd like to be treated... It's something we teach our children when they are young, hoping they will learn from our own actions and also from their own interactions with others.

One very important way to teach them about kindness is to read them the story of Sikulu & Harambe, which is based on an ethnic folk tale and written by Kunle Oguneye.

We loved the wonderful tale of Sikulu the Spider and his friend, Harambe the Hippo as they provided a perfect example of kindness to others when they rescued the village woman's clothing from the fast moving Zambezi River. After asking other animals to help her to rescue her clothes from being washed down the river, the poor old woman asked Sikulu and Harambe to assist her. The other animals were too busy, too preoccupied with their own lives to take the time to stop and be kind. I know I have been guilty myself of this-too busy to stop and help a coworker who maybe needed an extra hand, to help the harried mom or elderly person if their grocery bag broke and spilled the contents all over the parking lot, so many scenarios that I've witnessed but never really taken the time to go the extra mile and help out.

This story made me think about things in a new perspective. In helping others, and being kind-I can actually feel good myself. Plus, in doing so you are setting an example for others, including your children if they are with you. Deja loved the colorful illustrations and together we were able to learn about a different culture, learning new words along the way. Sikulu also showed his bravery, by forgetting about his fear of water and the river and pitching in with Harambe to help someone else- because to him, that was more important than his own fear. This book is first in a series of adventures depicting both Sikulu and Harambe in different parts of Africa. With more wonderful folk tales, beautiful illustrations, and new words and cultures I will be sure to follow their adventures and hope you will too!

Would you like to win a copy of this wonderful book for your family? The sponsor has generously offered to provide one winner with an autographed copy of the book and either a Sikulu the Spider or Harambe the Hippo stuffed toy!

The giveaway begins today and will end on Friday, October 31st and 11:59 pm. We will choose a lucky winner and post the winner's name sometime on Saturday November 1st. Prize will be sent directly from the sponsor, so I need to restrict to US only for this giveaway.

In order to win, head on over to the website http://www.sikulu.com/ and tell me in a comment what you liked-whether it be the games, the story itself, a fact about the author-whatever you enjoyed most when you visited the site. For a second entry, post a link to this giveaway on your own blog and then come back and leave a second comment with a link showing me that you did it and I will enter your name a second time. PLEASE-make sure that you leave an email address with your comment if you are not a blogger or don't have an email listed in your profile, so I can reach you! If you don't win, you can always buy one of the books or one of the cute stuffed animal toys here: http://www.sikulu.com/shopping.php With the holidays coming up soon, they'd make a cute gift!