My insssspiration for The Tale of Sybil Snake!

February 4, 2025 at 5:55 pm | Posted in Books about Chinese Zodiac, Chinese festivals, FAQs, Year of the Snake | Leave a comment
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Readers often ask me what inspiration I had for writing my Chinese Calendar Tales, which is always a great question! The Tale of Sybil Snake, this year’s book, was inspired by quite a few things, and this week I thought I might share them with you!

First of all, there are the characteristics of Chinese Zodiac Snakes! They are graceful, romantic, refined and very charming! They are also very materialistic and love to surround themselves with beautiful things! On the negative side, they can also be mysterious and manipulative, plotting and planning over long periods of time to get what they want, and they will always get their revenge if anyone stands in their way!

In The Tale of Sybil Snake, Sybil is so graceful and charming that she hypnotises everyone in her path…and they all fall in love with her! She loves “collecting” beautiful things (some people might call it stealing!) and surrounds herself with her priceless hoard of treasure in a secret cave! She is highly manipulative and gets whatever she wants when nobody suspects her in the least…even after the Emperor banishes her after she steals the little prince’s golden ball (see the picture)! And in the end, she gets her revenge (but you’ll have to read the story to find out how!)

Keep visiting my blog to find out more inspiration for The Tale of Sybil Snake!

TWO very special Chinese New Year Offers!

February 9, 2024 at 4:39 pm | Posted in Buying my books, Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Special Offers | Leave a comment
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Happy Chinese New Year my friends! I am very excited to announce TWO VERY SPECIAL OFFERS just in time for all your celebrations!

OFFER NUMBER ONE: From today to the end of March, you can purchase a COMPLETE SET OF ALL 12 CHINESE CALENDAR TALES PLUS THE TALE OF PIN YIN PANDA for just HK$999-00! That’s a whopping 17% discount! So if you don’t have your set yet, or you want to replace your much-read favourites with some new ones, now’s your chance!

OFFER NUMBER TWO: And in honour of the brand new Year of the Dragon, The Tale of Chester Choi goes on sale today for just HK$79 until the end of March!

So what are you waiting for! Click here for the Complete Set and here for The Tale of Chester Choi to place your order NOW!

Are you at primary school? Do you like writing stories?

January 23, 2023 at 9:08 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions | Leave a comment
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Are you a primary school-aged student? Do you like writing stories? And do you like RABBITS??

Then it’s time for you to enter my new Clever Competition: The Tale of a Rogue Rabbit!

Now before I say anything else, I know that Rabbits in the Chinese Zodiac are a very civilized, polite and law-abiding! But as we all know, that naughty Rhonda Rabbit is a rebel from north of the border, who spends her time being extremely UN-civilized, IM-polite and breaking every law Qin Shi Huang puts in her way! She is NOT a Chinese Zodiac type of rabbit at all, but she’s a great reminder to put a rabbit-proof fence around our vegetable gardens!

So for this Clever Competition, I’d like you to write me a story about a rogue rabbit! Go to my Clever Competitions page right away to read all the rules, as well as all the tasty ingredients you must include!

The deadline’s at the end of April, so you have lots of time to write a RAVISHING story! I can’t wait to read it!

Kung Hei Fat Choi from me and Rhonda Rabbit!

January 23, 2023 at 5:31 pm | Posted in Chinese New Year | Leave a comment
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HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!! It’s time for THAT RABBIT to visit again!! Rhonda Rabbit, cheeky vegetable thief and sneaky wall-builder, is SO excited to be hopping about once more! And I’m 100 per cent with her!

So in order to celebrate a brand new year of mischief and fun, I have two fantastic pieces of news!

First up, I’m very excited to announce my upcoming tour of Hong Kong and Taiwan schools from 6th to 17th February! And this time, it’s IN PERSON! Hooray! I can’t wait to see all my lovely Hong Kong fans again, and to meet some new ones in Taiwan! I’ll be posting news and photos daily, so you can read all about it!

Secondly, it’s high time for a new Clever Competition! Read my next post to find out all about it!

A very special day at Harrow International School Hong Kong!

March 3, 2021 at 7:58 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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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!

FOUR funny and fabulous Year of the Ox challenges!

February 16, 2021 at 1:43 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
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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 comment
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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!

Kung Hei Fat Choi for the Year of the Ox!

February 12, 2021 at 2:29 am | Posted in Video | Leave a comment
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A Big Fat “Happy Year of the Pig!” from Harry Harrison!

February 11, 2019 at 3:27 pm | Posted in Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac | Leave a comment
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My friend Harry Harrison, who is the FABULOUS illustrator of the Chinese Calendar Tales, has asked me to post this very funny cartoon on my blog to wish all his fans a very Happy Year of the Pig! Harry is the famous cartoonist in the South China Morning Post as well as many other publications in the world, such as The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom and the Far East Economic Review. I’m so lucky that he illustrates my stories – and all the fans of the Chinese Calendar Tales are too! What can we say but Thank you Harry!

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 comment
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Sarah B and year 3- to share

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!

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