A busy book signing at The Hobart Bookshop!

February 27, 2016 at 7:12 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Bookshop event, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Hobart, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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Today Ming Kee Monkey and I made a special visit to The Hobart Bookshop at Tasmania’s famous Salamanca Place for a book-signing, a story reading, and a chance to meet some new fans and to introduce them to my books about the Chinese Zodiac animals! Many thanks to Janet Grecian for hosting the event! I look forward to meeting more of my Hobart fans at some fabulous primary schools this week!

A fun interview with ABC Hobart today!

February 24, 2016 at 7:34 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Press, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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Today I was up with the sparrows to record a radio interview with Ryk Goddard of ABC Hobart Breakfast show! Here’s the link if you’d like to have a listen!

https://soundcloud.com/936-abc-hobart/why-is-there-no-cat-in-the-chinese-zodiac

Thank you MLC!

February 24, 2016 at 6:54 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Melbourne schools, Monkey story, School visits, Uncategorized, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a comment
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A big THANK YOU to the lovely Tracey Ricchini, Junior School Teacher Librarian, and the fabulous girls and staff at Methodist Ladies College, for a wonderful day today! It was so good to see you all again, and to introduce you to my maverick Ming Kee Monkey, as well as the rare and exotic plants and creatures of the jungles of Yunnan Province…not to mention Emperor Taizong of Tang, the extraordinary Buddhist explorer Xuanzang, and the Legend of the Monkey King and the Journey to the West! You made a fantastic audience; thank you so much for your enthusiasm and interest! I look forward to receiving LOADS of MLC entries in my Clever Competition!

Hellooo Melbourne!

February 24, 2016 at 4:28 am | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Melbourne schools, School visits, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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A big hello to one of my favourite cities – the fabulous Melbourne! I’m on a quick visit here to visit some publishers and the lovely ladies of MLC before flying down to Hobart for a week of fun school visits and events! I’m so glad to be here and look forward to catching up with my Melbourne buddies!

Questions about voting in the Golden Dragon Book Awards 2016!

February 16, 2016 at 5:06 pm | Posted in Book Awards, Chinese Calendar Tales, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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Precious and Bright Idea

Well, my Inbox has gone crazy with questions since I wrote to you all yesterday about the Golden Dragon Book Awards! Here is a quick list:

Question: Who can vote?

Answer: You can vote if you live in Hong Kong and are

  • a student at an Affiliated School
  • a School Co-Ordinator at an Affiliated School
  • or an Interested Adult at an Affiliated School

Question: What IS an Affiliated School?

Answer: An Affiliated School is one that is registered in the competition. If your school is  not already on the list on the voting page, ask your teacher to write to the GDBA by filling in an easy form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1KUs942nbmFxh7YgoQt9mJYWLScpMRQ0H9QyuLVAiR3g/formResponse

Question: What is an Interested Adult?

Answer: An Interested Adult is a member of staff or a parent of a child who goes to an Affiliated School (ie a school already on the list on the voting page!)

So if you want to cast your vote, talk to your school teacher today and ask them to make sure that YOUR school is on the Affiliated Schools list!

(And remember, if you like eating lamb chops, PLEASE vote for The Tale of Rodney Ram in the Younger Readers Category!!)

 

A fabulous day at Kingston International School, Kowloon Tong!

February 16, 2016 at 4:40 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Hong Kong Schools, Uncategorized, writing competitions, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a comment
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Today  I had the best day doing workshops with Upper Primary at Kingston International School in Kowloon Tong! The Grade 4s unscrambled limericks and identified haikus and completed the gaps in a horrifying poem called Let’s Destroy the School in my Introduction to Poetry Workshop! The Grade 5s and 6s learned all about How to Write a Riveting Story that will glue the reader’s nose to the page, and left with a fab Story Planning sheet to plan their next stories! And some of them even promised to use them to plan their entry into my current Clever Competition (see tab at the top of this page!). I can’t wait to read their entries! Huge thanks to the lovely Jennifer Shaw for hosting me today! Photos to come!

You can vote for Rodney Ram starting TODAY in the Golden Dragon Book Awards 2016!

February 15, 2016 at 8:49 pm | Posted in Book Awards, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese Zodiac, Uncategorized | 2 Comments
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Rodney writing an ode

If you are a school student or a teacher or an interested adult in Hong Kong, you can start voting TODAY for your favourite books in the Golden Dragon Book Awards 2016! The Tale of Rodney Ram is short-listed for the Younger Readers category! Here are just NINE great reasons why you should vote for The Tale of Rodney Ram!

  1. You love Rodney Ram
  2. You love handsome sheep
  3. You love romantic sheep
  4. You love shy sheep
  5. You love artistic sheep
  6. You love eating sheep
  7. You love Sarah Brennan and Harry Harrison’s books 🙂
  8. You want to support local books written by Hong Kong residents!
  9. You can’t think of any good reason why not!
So – please go right away to http://www.hkgoldendragonawards.org/voting.html
to cast YOUR vote!
And remember what the farmer said about his beloved Rodney Ram …
“Mark my words, he’ll bring us fame
And all the world will know our Rodney’s name!”

Thank you Japanese International School!

February 15, 2016 at 8:41 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Hong Kong Schools, Monkey story, School visits, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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A big THANK YOU to the fabulous staff and students of Grades 3 to 6 at Japanese International School in Tai Po for a fun day today! It was great to introduce you to my mischievous Ming Kee Monkey, not to mention some of the fascinating, rare animals of the Yunnan jungle like Binturongs, Gaurs, Civet Cats, Gibbons and Lorises named Doris! And then the Grade 5s and 6s and I met again for fun and games in my Introduction to Poetry Workshops! I was especially impressed with the talent they showed in completing our poem Let’s Destroy the School! I look forward to lots of entries in my Clever Competition – see the button above!

Kung Hei Fat Choy from Ming Kee Monkey and Me!!

February 8, 2016 at 6:02 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Monkey story, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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MK_16(low res)

Today is the first day of Chinese New Year!! Kung Hei Fat Choy from Ming Kee Monkey and me for a fabulous Year of the Monkey ahead! We wish you all health, wealth and great happiness, not to mention wisdom, which (when you read The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey you will find that Ming Kee achieved in the end, although not until she’d been through a lot of trouble after causing WAY too much mischief in the jungles of Yunnan first!). Have a great holiday, and see you all next week!

Helloooo SAIS in Singapore!

February 2, 2016 at 9:06 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Singapore schools, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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Today I visited my fabulous friends at Stamford American International School in Singapore again, for the first of three great days chock full of writing workshops and reading sessions for the Grade 5s, and talks to parents and teachers about creating bookworms and writers in the digital age too! It was wonderful to see you all, and especially to introduce you to my mischievous Ming Kee Monkey! I can’t wait to work with more of you tomorrow!

 

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