Not long to go now…

June 5, 2019 at 5:03 pm | Posted in children's literacy, Monkey story, writing competitions | Leave a comment
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Ming Kee Monkey being SUPER patient in The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey. Illustration by Harry Harrison

Thank you for your patience, all you fabulous contestants in my Practically Perfect Pig Tale Competition! My lovely helper is home from hospital and resting up, and I’m back to judging of your fantastic stories! I’m having so much fun reading them – you’ve all done a wonderful job! So it won’t be long to go now before I announce the finalists! Keep visiting my site, and I’ll be making the big announcement soon!

Two fabulous days at the Discovery College Cultural Festival!

December 2, 2016 at 3:14 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese Zodiac, Monkey story, School visits, Story Readings, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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A big THANK YOU to all my fabulous friends at Discovery College for inviting me for two wonderful days this week as part of their fantastic annual Cultural Festival! We had six funny and educational story readings from my Chinese Calendar Tales series, with the Grade Ones meeting Chester Choi, the Grade Twos laughing along with Pin Yin Panda, the Grade Threes having a frolic with Rodney Ram, the Grade Fours falling in love with my noble Dark Horse, and the Grade Fives and Sixes saying a fond farewell to Ming Kee Monkey in my last Ming Kee Monkey story readings for the Year of the Monkey! Huge thanks to my dear friend and talented teacher librarian host Leanne Sercombe for looking after me so well! See you all next year!

Ming Kee Monkey visits Think International School!

November 28, 2016 at 6:29 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Clever Competitions, Hong Kong Schools, Monkey story, workshops | Leave a comment
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A big thank you to PYP Co-ordinator John Urquhart and librarian CK Tam at Think International School for hosting me today at their beautiful new Cheung Sha Wan campus, in three fun sessions! First all the Grade 4 to Grade 6 kids heard my Tale of Ming Kee Monkey – with LOTS of fabulous Q & A afterwards – then we had two workshop sessions, where everyone learned How to Write a Riveting Story! It was busy, and a lot of fun. I look forward to your entries in my next Clever Competition!

A Fabulous Day at SUIS Hongqiao!

October 31, 2016 at 6:00 pm | Posted in Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Chinese Calendar Tales, Monkey story, Shanghai schools, workshops, Writing competitions for kids | 2 Comments
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My Shanghai schools tour kicked off to a wonderful start today at Shanghai United International School in Hongqiao with the fabulous Grade 4 students! After a fun story reading, where I introduced the kids to The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey and the fascinating 7th century Chinese history behind it (not to mention The Legend of the Monkey King written 9 centuries later!), we had two writing workshops about story planning, full of handy hints about How to Write a Riveting Story!  I was very happy to hear that loads of SUIS kids intend to enter my Horribly Hilarious Halloween Story Competition – I can hardly wait to read their stories! Huge thanks to the lovely Shelly Nasseri, Head of English, for being such a warm and welcoming host.

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!

Exactly 1 month to go to enter the Mischievous Monkey Story Competition!

February 24, 2016 at 4:34 am | Posted in Monkey story, Uncategorized, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a comment
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You’d better get cracking! There is just ONE MONTH to go to get your entry into my Mischievous Monkey Story writing competition! Click on the Clever Competitions button above for all the details!

 

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!

Monkeys, monkeys everywhere!

February 10, 2016 at 9:17 am | Posted in Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Monkey story | Leave a comment
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Help! It’s a Monkey Invasion! There are monkeys EVERYWHERE here in Hong Kong – and there were even monkeys rampaging in Singapore! Here is just a small selection of the monkeys I’ve encountered in the last 10 days – see if you can spot my Monkey Monkey (cousin of Ming Kee Monkey) in the collage 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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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!

Ming Kee Monkey launches in Hong Kong!

January 30, 2016 at 5:37 pm | Posted in Book launches, Bookshop event, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Monkey story, Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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Sarah and Harry at Bookazine

A big THANK YOU to Arti and Shonee Mirchandani and all the wonderful staff at Bookazine, Princes Building, for a fabulous launch today! Harry and I had a fabulous morning meeting our fans, with a story reading of The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, a challenging quiz (where the kids did REALLY well) and a fun book-signing. And Jodi Mullen from Room to Read gave us much food for thought in her wonderful opening speech about my favourite charity, which gives such incredible support to literacy and girls’ education in Third World countries. Thanks to everyone who came for such a warm welcome for Ming Kee Monkey in Hong Kong!

For more photos and fun, follow the link here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1150883564944158.1073741879.115531475146044&type=3

 

 

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