Rodney Ram is frolicking up to Shanghai and Beijing today!
March 8, 2015 at 10:02 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Beijing Schools, Clever Competition, Shanghai schools, The Tale of Rodney Ram
Hellooooo to all my friends and fans in Shanghai and Beijing! Rodney Ram and I and the rest of the Chinese Calendar Tales family are flying up to Shanghai this afternoon to visit 8 fabulous schools in Shanghai and Beijing from Monday 9th March to Wednesday 18th March! We can’t wait to see you all!
And if we’re not coming to YOUR school, fear not! You can still help celebrate Rodney’s special year by entering my Clever Competition for primary school kids! See all the details on my blog on the Clever Competitions page above!
And you can follow our Shanghai and Beijing tour on this blog too, with lots of fun and photographs to view!
A very proud moment with Room to Read!
March 7, 2015 at 12:33 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Room to Read, The Tale of Rodney Ram, Vietnam
On Wednesday I attended a fantastic evening with Room To Read, where I heard the moving story of a wonderful young woman called Tay Thi Nguyen, who is the star graduate of Room to Read Vietnam’s Girls’ Education Program. Can you believe that when Tay Thi was a young girl, her mum actually burned her school books to stop her from getting an education? It was because the family was so poor, her mum wanted Tay Thi to go out and work to earn money. Luckily Room To Read found out about her, and was able to help her to get a scholarship to fund all her studies, until she graduated at university as a teacher! Now her mum is very happy, because not only can Tay Thi earn a great living, but she has also encouraged both her brothers to go on to further studies, so the family will no longer be poor! Tay Thi has now gone back to her village to teach other children to read – isn’t she an inspiration?
Here she is above on the left, holding a copy of my Tale of Rodney Ram with Dan Doan, Senior Program Manager, Room to Read Vietnam’s Girls’ Education Program, at Room to Read’s Gala Event on Friday night. I’m so proud to see two such kind and wonderful people holding my books!
Remember if you want to help girls like Tay Thi achieve their dream to read, and to study, you can ask Mum and Dad to visit http://www.roomtoread.org right away with you, to find out more!
Helloooooo Singapore International School!
March 6, 2015 at 9:16 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Hong Kong Schools, Singapore International School
Today I had a fabulous day with the Grade 1 to 3 students of Singapore International School! They learned all about how rice came to China (the real version, the folktale version and MY version :)) and met my shy but very artistic, romantic and lucky Ram, and were such fun to work with! Many thanks to teacher Sharon Mullen and Kartine (head of English) (below left) and my old friend, librarian Fanny Kwok (below right with Sharon and me), for a fantastic day!
A BIG day at Kowloon Junior School!
March 5, 2015 at 9:32 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: Hong Kong Schools, Kowloon Junior School, Poetry workshops, Writing workshops
Well that was a whopper of a day today at Kowloon Junior School! It was great to visit my old friends there again, and to see the impressive new school premises, with a big, beautiful library right at the heart of the school, just where a library should be! The Grade 3s had my How to Write a Riveting Story Workshop, I read my Tale of Rodney Ram to the Grade 1s, 2s, 4s and 5s, and then the Grade 6s had my Introduction to Poetry Workshop. It was fun, and the kids were fabulous! Here they are above, getting ready for one of my sessions with a big “AIYEEE-YA!” on the right, and above left are my two lovely hosts for the day, Katie Tucker (Drama Club and K2 Teacher) and Vanessa Sheppard (teacher librarian). I can’t wait to see all the kids’ entries in my Clever Competition! See the Clever Competition tab above for all the details!
A Funny and Fabulous Day at DBIS!
March 4, 2015 at 3:13 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Zodiac, Discovery Bay International School, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, The Tale of Rodney Ram
I had SUCH a fun day today with my old – and young 🙂 – friends at Discovery Bay International School today! The Grade 2s, 3s, and 4s met my shaggy, shy sheep Rodney, and then the gorgeous Grade 1s met my very vain (but loveable) Pin Yin Panda, and learned all about how the animals got into the Chinese Zodiac! We had a ball! Huge thanks to the wonderful Naomi Gist (above) for hosting me today! And even more thanks for letting me, and my family of Chinese Zodiac animals, make our getaway, very stylishly, in her Discovery Bay golf buggy! But trust that Pin Yin Panda to insist on riding in the front! You can also see below a fabulous drawing of Rodney Ram given to me by a lovely student called Elin – isn’t it terrific?
AISHK loves SHEEP!
March 3, 2015 at 7:32 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: AISHK, Chinese Zodiac, Hong Kong Schools, Library ideas, Year of the Ram
It must be something to do with Australia’s historical connection to the sheep industry…but the Australian International School Hong Kong just LOVES sheep, and gave my shy sheep Rodney Ram a very enthusiastic welcome today! Here I am above left with lovely teacher librarian Megan O’Connor, with the Thinking Tree, and a very fat Aussie sheep, owned by Senior School librarian Mr Darryl Hopkins (above right) who tried to feed it to a Chinese dragon! The AISHK has SUCH great ideas in the library – like this wonderful Reading Tree (below left) and board games made by the kids about their favourite books (below right). No wonder all the kids at AISHK love reading books!
Back home in Hong Kong – and Morrison Academy in Taiwan enters the fray!
March 2, 2015 at 4:06 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Bobby, Clever Competition, Hong Kong, Morrison Academy Kaohsiung Taiwan
It’s good to be home with my family and my gorgeous dog Bobby (here he is pretending to be a stuffed toy so he doesn’t have to have a bath!) The weather’s still a little chilly, but all the birds are singing madly around our apartment on the edge of Tai Po Kau nature reserve, and the hills are green and beautiful!
And what a lovely surprise I got today to receive 15 fabulous entries from Morrison Academy Kaohsiung in Taiwan in my Clever Competition! Taiwan has officially entered the fray! If you haven’t entered your Shaggy Sheep Poem yet, it’s time to start writing! See my Clever Competition page above for all the details!
A Fabulous Finale at The Children’s Bookshop in Beecroft!
February 28, 2015 at 7:20 pm | Posted in Bookshop event, Sydney schools | 2 CommentsTags: Beecroft, Bookshop events, Sydney, The Children's Bookshop
Today was the final day of my Aussie Chinese New Year tour, and what a fun day it was, with a fabulous event at the famous Children’s Bookshop in Beecroft, north of Sydney. Many thanks to owner Paul MacDonald (above) and his partner Beth and fantastic team for hosting me! Proceeds from the event went to Room to Read.
Jennie Orchard (in black), Mihira and young Justine – all proud to represent Room to Read. Justine’s ambition is to be an author, and she’s already keeping a writer’s notebook.
Some of the fabulous audience.
Talented writer and artist Jemma Julian (first place winner in the Gr 4 to 6 Section of my Ode to My Favourite Tree competition) with her mum, artist Diana Reynolds. Jemma’s grandmother was a famous author in Tasmania, and her great uncle was the great historian of Australian indigenous people, Henry Reynolds! So creative talent runs in the family!
A Fabulous Frolic at Kambala!
February 27, 2015 at 7:33 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
I had a terrific time today at one of my favourite Sydney schools Kambala! My darling mum went to Kambala way back in the 1930s, so visiting takes on a very special meaning for me. I spent a fabulous hour with the Grade 2 to Grade 5 girls, and we had a lot of fun learning all about how rice came to China, as well as my shy but artistic Rodney Ram. The girls were gorgeous as ever, and it was great to see the staff again too. Warm thanks to lovely teacher librarian Sally-Anne Tilley for hosting me this afternoon – it was memorable! Here are some photos of me with Sally-Anne, her madcap daughter and friend, and a stunning Chinese umbrella in the foyer made from – you guessed it – Chinese cocktail umbrellas! I look forward to all your entries in my Clever Competition!
My wonderful afternoon with Susanne Gervay!
February 26, 2015 at 2:55 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: books about bullying, Hughenden Hotel, Susanne Gervay, Teen books
Today I met one of my personal writer heroes, the great Susanne Gervay, at her beautiful boutique hotel, The Hughenden Hotel, in Woollahra. Susanne is author of the famous I Am Jack series of children’s books as well as many award-winning books for teenagers, such as Butterflies. It was such an honour to spend time with her; her kindness, warmth and enthusiasm for other writers makes her one of the most generous and remarkable authors I’ve ever met. I owe a huge thank you to the fabulous Jennie Orchard of Room to Read for introducing me to Susanne, who, like me, is a Writer Ambassador for this wonderful children’s charity. Please do take the time to visit their website (http://www.roomtoread.org) as well as Susanne’s fantastic website at http://sgervay.com
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