A fab interview with Jed Doherty of Reading With Your Kids in Boston, USA!
June 29, 2017 at 9:44 am | Posted in Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, children's literacy, Podcasts | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, children's literacy, Chinese culture for kids, Chinese history for kids, Chinese Zodiac, Jed Doherty, Reading With Your Kids, United States
I was so excited a few weeks ago to be contacted by one of the United States’ most famous family entertainers, Jed Doherty, from Boston, who asked me to talk all about the Chinese Calendar Tales for his huge Reading With Your Kids podcast audience in the States! We ended up talking for MUCH longer than expected, not just about my books, but also about our shared passion for children’s literacy – and our shared concern about the overuse of digital games and social media which is NOT GOOD AT ALL if you want to be a great reader, with great vocabulary, great writing skills, great general knowledge and a great brain!
We had such a good chat that Jed ended up dividing it into 2 podcasts! The first podcast, all about the Chinese Zodiac, my love of Chinese history and culture, and our funny and fabulous Chinese Calendar Tales, was released to iTunes and iHeart Radio on 22nd June!
You can listen to it here.
And if you want to find out more about Jed and his fantastic work in the States, you can read more here.
A Fabulous International Holiday Writing Challenge: The Wonderful Whale Haiku Competition!
June 19, 2017 at 1:09 pm | Posted in Book launches, Buying my books, Clever Competitions, Storm Whale | Leave a commentTags: Allen & Unwin, Books about whales, Clever Competitions, Haikus for kids, Jane Tanner, Storm Whale, Wonderful Whale Poem Competition
Don’t you just love whales? These beautiful giants of the deep are so intelligent and wise, and they’ve lived at peace in their watery world for many thousands of years, in a way that we silly human beings simply cannot seem to manage up here on the earth! And many of you will know that my new book with Australian publishers Allen & Unwin, called Storm Whale, illustrated by the award-winning Australian artist Jane Tanner, has just been launched in Melbourne! So to celebrate these beautiful animals – and Jane’s and my beautiful new book – I thought it was high time that we celebrated these wonderful animals in a Wonderful Whale Haiku Competition!
The competition is open to any kid of Primary School age, anywhere in the world.
You’ve got lots of time for this one: the deadline is Saturday 30th September 2017, so you can have a lovely time over your upcoming holidays thinking about whales and writing your poem!
Go to my Clever Competitions page above for all the rules and requirements!
And if you love the illustration above, and want to purchase your own copy of our new book, just click on the link here: http://www.chinesecalendartales.com!
It’s good to be back in Hong Kong!
June 13, 2017 at 2:13 pm | Posted in AISHK, Kingston International School Hong Kong, School visits | 2 CommentsTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, The Dirty Stories
Well, I’m back in Hong Kong after 3 fabulous weeks in Hobart, Melbourne and Brisbane, and it’s sooooo good to be home! The very first thing to be done was to pack up the fabulous book orders from the students of Australian International School and Kingston International School where I visited the kids just before I left! Here I am signing books yesterday in my office – we packed over 300 books in total! Thanks kids – and your books will be delivered to your schools this week!
Helloooo Brisbane…and my last school visit of the tour- with the boys of Churchie!
June 5, 2017 at 3:44 pm | Posted in Australian schools, Brisbane schools, Clever Competitions, Poetry Workshops for kids | Leave a commentTags: Churchie, Introduction to Poetry Workshop
Thank you Churchie (Anglican Church Grammar School) in Brisbane for a fabulous day today! I met all the Fantastic Grade Fours in four fun sessions of my Introduction to Poetry Workshop and we had a good old mental workout unscrambling limericks, identifying haikus, writing acrostics about some long-suffering teachers (who were very good sports!) and rhyming words! AND talking about the vital importance of reading books to the development of a great vocabulary, an even greater imagination, not to mention a great life! I hope to see loads of Churchie entries in my next Clever Competition! And last but not least, my warmest thanks to my lovely host for the day, librarian Rose Hoger (see above)!
Storm Whale’s Wonderful Melbourne Launch!
June 4, 2017 at 6:05 am | Posted in Being an Author, Book launches, Melbourne events, Storm Whale | Leave a commentTags: Allen & Unwin, Jane Tanner, Melbourne, Readings Kids, Storm Whale
Our beautiful Storm Whale splashed off to a wonderful start at the launch party at the famous Readings Kids bookshop in Lygon Street in Melbourne on Thursday night 1st June! Here are just some of the photos! Top – an original illustration from the book, by award-winning artist Jane Tanner. Isn’t it just gorgeous?
Readings Kids beautiful store front in Lygon Street.
Before the launch with my dear friend Judy Mackerras who flew in all the way from London via Sydney!
Three very important women – to me, and to Storm Whale! Top left, my wonderful agent and friend Julie Watts, top right, Jane Tanner, the renowned artist who brought Storm Whale to life in her exquisite pictures, and top centre, the lovely Erica Wagner, head of children’s books at Allen & Unwin, our fantastic publisher.
With two dear old friends, Jill (top left) with whom I went to school in Hobart many, many years ago and Stacey who lives in Melbourne; and my new friend Jane Tanner!
With Jane, Julie and my friend Tom Danby of INT Books (left), and the three gorgeous girls who were Jane’s models for the drawings of me and my sisters in the book!
Book signing after the speeches…
The shop window before and after the launch! We sold out completely!!
A big warm thank you to Readings Kids for hosting this wonderful event, and to my friends at Allen & Unwin for putting on such a fabulous party!
My Marvellous Day at MLC, Melbourne!
June 1, 2017 at 10:36 am | Posted in Australian schools, Being an Author, children's literacy, Melbourne schools, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Methodist Ladies College, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
It was wonderful to visit my old friends at Methodist Ladies College Junior School yesterday, and to catch up with my dear friend, librarian Tracey Ricchini (below)! I had SUCH a great day introducing my latest Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster, to the girls from Grades 3 to 6 in three wonderful sessions chockful of history and fun, and then meeting up with my very favourite Book Bugs (above) at lunchtime for a lovely long chat about being an author, as well as a sneak preview of Storm Whale. Tracey is one of the most dedicated librarians I know, and we spent every spare moment talking about our most passionate shared interest – children’s literacy. The girls of MLC love their books, and below you can see a photo of Tilda Clohesy, a young author who has written and illustrated her own excellent children’s book! Thanks Tracey for a brilliant day and I look forward to seeing you all again next year!
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