Maggie and Methuselah, Oswald Ox and Pin Yin Panda visit Stamford American School HK!
March 22, 2021 at 9:13 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Books about Hong Kong history for kids, How to Publish a Picture Book, Stamford American International School Hong Kong, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah, The Tale of Oswald Ox, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda
Wow that was fun! On Thursday and Friday I spent seven fabulous internet sessions with my great friends at Stamford American School Hong Kong with the kids from Grade 1 right up to Grade 5! We celebrated the Year of the Ox with story readings of The Tale of Oswald Ox and the Legend of Lord Buddha’s Race with The Tale of Pin Yin Panda. We had two great sessions with the Grade 3s (who are creating their very own picture books) learning How to Create a Picture Book from Brilliant Idea to Final Product. And we had two fantastic sessions introducing all the students to the fascinating Hong Kong history and even more fascinating TRUE Hong Kong mystery featured in my new chapter book for pre-teens, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah! The kids all went crazy for the World War II history in the story, and especially those real Hong Kong WWII tunnels which lie to this day in and under the hillsides of Hong Kong! Some of them even decided that they were going to solve the mystery! Watch out Hong Kong!!
Huge thanks to Lisa Olinski for inviting me, Lisa Choy for her fabulous technical supervision, and the other lovely teachers who hosted me for the sessions. It was such a treat to work with you all, and I hope you enjoyed our time together as much as I did!
Squawk! Just 16 days left in my Oxcellent Ox Tale writing competition!
March 12, 2021 at 11:20 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese Zodiac, The Oxcellent Ox Tale Competition, The Tale of Oswald Ox, Writing Competitions for Kids
The rooster from my The Tale of Oswald Ox is raising a loud alarm! You’ve got just 16 days left to get in your entry in my Oxcellent Ox Tale writing competition for primary school aged kids! So if you haven’t started writing your story, you’d better get started this weekend! You can find all the details about the competition here!
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!!
Hello San Pablo Elementary School in Florida!
February 12, 2021 at 11:53 pm | Posted in United States schools | Leave a commentTags: Chinese New Year, San Pablo Elementary School, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Tale of Oswald Ox, The Year of the Ox, Zoom visits
A big HELLO to Mrs Relaford’s 3rd Grade Math class at San Pablo Elementary School, Jacksonville Beach, Florida! It was such fun to meet you all by Zoom this afternoon, to have the chance to read The Tale of Oswald Ox to you all, and to answer your fantastic questions about my books, my writing and celebrating Chinese New Year! Gong Xi Fa Cai – or Kung Hei Fat Choi – to you all for a fabulous Year of the Ox! And thank you Mrs Relaford for being such a wonderful host!
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