Oswald Ox and Maggie and Methuselah visit Renaissance College!
March 10, 2021 at 6:29 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah, The Tale of Oswald Ox, The Year of the Ox
Wow that was fun! I had the most fantastic all day Zoom Visit with the Grade 4s to Grade 6s of Renaissance College HK on Monday! After welcoming the new Chinese Year of the Ox with a short story reading from The Tale of Oswald Ox, I showed the students a fascinating PowerPoint presentation about the fabulous TRUE history and mystery at the heart of my new chapter book for pre-teens, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah (A Hong Kong Mystery). The kids went crazy with all their questions and comments about the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in World War II, the hundreds of tunnels still existing under Hong Kong island and the New Territories, and the amazing true mystery of The Missing Chater Collection! A big THANK YOU to lovely teacher librarian Shirley Chan (pictured beside me below) for hosting me, and to the fabulous staff for helping to supervise the sessions!
A big MOOO from Oswald Ox for Kowloon Junior School!
March 8, 2021 at 9:51 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Oswald Ox
A big THANK YOU to teacher librarian Macy Lau, for hosting me and dear old Oswald Ox last Wednesday at Kowloon Junior School! We visited the fabulous Year 1 to Year 3s by Zoom, with a fun story reading of The Tale of Oswald Ox and some great Q&A afterwards from the kids – and I learned how to DAB!!! Here are the teachers above, teaching me how! Thank you kids for being such a GREAT audience!
Introducing…my very first chapter book for pre-teens!
March 3, 2021 at 8:28 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Blacksmith Books, Chapter books about Hong Kong, Chapter books for pre-teens, Charly Cheung, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah
It’s almost here – The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah, my very first chapter book for pre-teens to begin a brand new series! It’s all about the adventures of Maggie, a ten year old girl, her best friend Edmund Ma, and her very mischievous African Grey parrot Methuselah (who breaks into funny rhymes at the most inconvenient moments :))! Together, they solve real life mysteries in cities around the world – and for this, my very first chapter book, the real mystery they solve is set in my beloved Hong Kong! I’ll tell you all about it in posts to come! At the moment it’s still being illustrated by the amazing Charly Cheung, a Hong Kong based, international award winning artist. You can see more of her work here. And it’s being published by the wonderful Pete Spurrier at Blacksmith Books, one of Hong Kong’s leading publishers, later this month. I’m SO excited!
The fabulous students of Year 5 at Harrow International School HK were the very first students in the world to hear about it, and to hear me read Chapter 1 from the book! Thank you for being such a fantastic audience, and for asking such brilliant questions afterwards! I hear from Mrs Campbell that she has challenged you to write your very own Chapter 2 – I can’t wait to hear what you’ve written!
And if any of my followers want to pre-order a copy of my new book, just click on this link!
A very special day at Harrow International School Hong Kong!
March 3, 2021 at 7:58 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Chinese New Year, Harrow International School HK, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Oswald Ox, The Year of the Ox
A big Hellooooo to all you fabulous students and staff at Harrow International School Hong Kong! Thank you so much for having me yesterday for my first Hong Kong school visit to celebrate this brand new Year of the Ox! It was wonderful to spend time with you reading The Tale of Oswald Ox to the Year 1s to Year 4s, and The Tale of Chester Choi to the gorgeous K1 and K2 kiddies! And then to visit with the Grade 5s…but that was so special it deserves another post all to itself!! A huge thank you to wonderful Director of Libraries Liz Campbell for inviting me and for being my fantastic host for the day! Kung Hei Fat Choi!
And the winner of my Oswald Ox Colouring-In Competition is…
March 2, 2021 at 1:54 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: The Tale of Oswald Ox
Wow! Isn’t the colouring-in of this picture from The Tale of Oswald Ox so special! Congratulations to Amethyst Yen, 10 years old, from Morrison Academy in Taiwan, for winning my Year of the Ox Colouring-In Competition! Amethyst wins a free copy of The Tale of Oswald Ox, together with a signed book plate! Well done Amethyst!
And if you missed entering this competition, you still have time to enter my Oxcellent Ox Tale Competition – just scroll down the Clever Competition page here for all the details!
Just 26 days to get your entries into the Oxcellent Ox Tale Competition!
March 2, 2021 at 12:14 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Oxcellent Ox Tale Competition, The Tale of Oswald Ox, Writing Competitions for Kids
The rooster from Oswald Ox’s farm is sounding the alarm! You’ve got just 26 DAYS left to get your entry into my An Oxcellent Ox Tale writing competition, with fabulous prizes including a FREE author visit to your school! Go to my Clever Competition page right away for all the details (you’ll need to scroll down a little). I can’t wait to read your entry!
FOUR funny and fabulous Year of the Ox challenges!
February 16, 2021 at 1:43 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Chinese New Year, Fun challenges for primary school kids, The Tale of Oswald Ox, The Year of the Ox Challenge 2021
Yes, I know, you’re stuck at home and this Chinese New Year isn’t exactly the one we’re all used to, with its Lion Dances and big family feasts and crowds of people out there enjoying all the festivities! But fear not! I have some fun challenges for all you kids at home to complete over the Chinese New Year holidays!
You can:
- Enter my fabulous international writing competition for primary school kids, An Oxcellent Ox Tale Competition!
- Enter my brand new Oswald Ox Colouring-In Competition with two beautiful pictures to download!
- Make my funny Moo Mask!
- Listen to me reading The Tale of Oswald Ox with Asia Society Hong Kong!
Just click here to go right away to my brand new Fun Challenges page for all the links!
So what are you waiting for! Ready, Steady, GO!!
Don’t miss a fun session with Harry Harrison and me at the Hong Kong Young Readers’ Festival next week!
June 5, 2020 at 4:24 pm | Posted in Being a publisher, Hong Kong Young Readers Festival 2020, Literary Festivals, Shatin Junior School, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Hong Kong Virtual Young Readers Festival 2020, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Chester Choi
I’m so excited to be a part of the Hong Kong Virtual Young Readers Festival 2020! I’m appearing alongside British author and performer Mark Llewelyn Evans, who uses music and storytelling to engage kids with the story of opera, Australian writer and bush worker Matt Zurbo, who inspires kids to create their own stories by finding humour and inspiration in every day events, and fellow Hong Kong writer Anna Tso! The Festival is accessible to all children in Hong Kong, live this and next week, and after that you can view the sessions on the HKYRF website at any time!
My live session with Harry Harrison takes place next Wednesday, and today we had a fun rehearsal with the kids of Shatin Junior School for an audience! They watched our very funny, informative video session, made by my daughter Annabel Cohen, in which we tell how The Chinese Calendar Tales came about, and how to publish a picture book, with some fantastic footage of Harry drawing one of our characters from The Tale of Chester Choi, from initial sketch to final painting! Make sure you visit the HKYRF site next week to see the video and Q and A session yourself!
Update on the Rascally Rat Tale Competition…
May 7, 2020 at 2:35 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, My dog Mo, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: The Rascally Rat Tale Competition
Here is our little dog Mo, who celebrated his 16th birthday last week, cuddling his favourite toy Daisy Duck! Mo has been very sick for the last couple of days and I’ve been taking him back and forth to the vets for lots of medical appointments. He’s getting good treatment now, and we’re hoping he gets better very soon. But it was very worrying at the time and unfortunately it put a stop to all my work, including judging the Rascally Rat Tale Competition! But please don’t worry – the results are almost completed and will be out shortly!
Ode to a single sock…
March 21, 2020 at 4:18 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 CommentsHere, just for a bit of fun, is a poem I’ve just written about a sad single sock I have at home, which has lost its pair! I challenge you to write a poem about something funny, like a shoe, or a coat hanger, or maybe even a toothbrush! Enjoy!
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