A Funny and Fabulous Visit to Shatin Junior School!
February 4, 2019 at 2:35 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Shatin Junior School | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac for kids, Books about the Year of the Pig, Emperor Zhu Di, Ming Dynasty, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig, Yongle Emperor

Illustration credit: Harry Harrison. From The Tale of Ping Pong Pig.
My second school visit last week, on Wednesday, was to my dear friends at Shatin Junior School, just around the corner from my office in Fo Tan! In four very noisy and animated sessions all the kids from P1 to P6 made friends with Ping Pong Pig, and echoes of “Run Pig! Run!” could be heard in the playground in all the breaks! Above, you can see Ping Pong heading off to the Forbidden City in the evil clutches of the Minister of Most Important Things! Run Pig! Run! And below, me and my toy pig Paavo (cousin of Ping Pong Pig) with a fabulous bunch of Year 6 Pig lovers!

A wonderful visit to Beacon Hill School in Kowloon Tong!
February 4, 2019 at 2:27 pm | Posted in Beacon Hill School, Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac for kids, Chinese New Year, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig

Last week I visited two lovely schools with Ping Pong Pig and all her Chinese Zodiac animal cousins! Here I am above with a fabulous hall of students at Beacon Hill School in Kowloon Tong! All the primary school classes met my new Chinese Calendar Tales character Ping Pong in 4 big, fun sessions, and cheered on my little pig as she kept escaping the clutches of the wily Minister of Most Important Things in his attempt to win favour with the third Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Di! Many thanks, as ever, to the lovely Emily Jeves, Deputy Principal, for inviting me in and being such a great host! Here we both are with our own animal signs (I’m a Rat and Emily is a Dragon, and we both love that Ping Pong Pig) below!

A fantastic Thursday at Shrewsbury College Hong Kong!
January 25, 2019 at 4:15 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Parent workshops, Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong, Story Readings | 1 CommentTags: How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig

Yesterday I drove down to Tseung Kwan O to visit the beautiful campus at Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong! My lovely hosts Beth McNeilly, School Librarian, and Jane Wong, Library Assistant, gave me a fantastic welcome! I introduced all the kids from Grade 2 to Grace 6 to my pretty Ping Pong Pig, and then spoke to some dedicated parents all about How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age. It was a wonderful day! Thanks Beth for the photos below!
Another great visit to Stamford American International School…with an SCMP journalist!
January 23, 2019 at 8:32 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, media articles, School visits, Stamford American School Hong Kong, Story Readings, writing workshops for children | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac, How to Write a Riveting Story, South China Morning Post, Sunday Post, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Dragon, The Year of the Pig
Ping Pong Pig and I continued our funny and fabulous Hong Kong School tour on Tuesday afternoon with a visit to my friends at Stamford American International School in Ho Man Tin, where I am proud to be a Global Mentor. And this time I was accompanied by Fionnuala McHugh, a journalist for the South China Morning Post, who is writing a feature article for the Sunday Post for Chinese New Year!
After photos in the Activity Room, our terrific host Lisa Olinski introduced me to some lovely parents and younger kids who heard me reading my “youngest” book, The Tale of Chester Choi, and enthusiastically joined in with contributions as to how you chop off a dragon’s head, especially if it’s threatening your Dad! Then a lovely roomful of older kids and their parents heard my Tale of Ping Pong Pig, together with a whole lot of fascinating history about the third Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Di and his best friend the explorer Admiral Zheng He and his seven epic journeys in huge Treasure Boats as far as Africa!
Lastly, I gave my popular How to Write a Riveting Story workshop to the hardy mums and children who stayed on after the story reading! It was a busy, fun day, and wonderful to see this lovely school again! More photos to come!
Ping Pong’s First Day at School in Hong Kong!
January 17, 2019 at 6:20 pm | Posted in Chinese New Year, Hong Kong Schools, Kingston International School Hong Kong, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig

On Monday this week, Ping Pong danced in to visit all my old friends (and young!) at Kingston International School in Kowloon Tong! There were story readings for everyone, from Grade 2 to Grade 5, and lots of fun for everybody! Thank you Jade Engelbrecht for being such a fabulous host!
The Twins from Planet Zorg visit PLK CKY Grade 3!
October 9, 2018 at 2:32 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, PLK CKY School, Science fiction, writing workshops for children | Leave a commentTags: How to Write a Riveting Story, Nailing the Narrative Curve

It was Douglet the Cyberdog to the rescue of two feisty human twins, from the clutches of evil android scientist Andreas on the purple Planet Zorg, in three fun workshop sessions at the fabulous PLK CKY school in Piper’s Hill, when I worked with the Grade 3s on how to plan an exciting Sci Fi story! We all had loads of fun seeing how my Story Planner could be used to make a fabulous skeleton for a story, with special reference to settings, characters and especially plot! Thanks to lovely librarian Joli Moore for inviting me!
There’s Monkey Business afoot at AISHK Book Week!
August 31, 2018 at 3:12 pm | Posted in AISHK, Book Week, Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Australian Book Week 2018, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey

Oh dear! That mischievous Ming Kee Monkey is on the loose at Book Week at Australian International School Hong Kong today! Thanks so much to Jean, who sent me this fabulous photo of her gorgeous daughter Maddie, all dressed up and ready to have fun as the main character in one of my and Harry Harrison’s Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey! Doesn’t she look fantastic?
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