The Results are out in my Tale of a Rogue Rabbit writing competition!

May 10, 2023 at 7:08 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions | Leave a comment
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HOORAY! The results in my Tale of a Rogue Rabbit writing competition are out!!

Thank you all so much for your fabulous entries into my latest Clever Competition, The Tale of a Rogue Rabbit! I’ve had so much fun reading them, and chuckling at the antics of your cheeky bunnies and sometimes even naughtier Amur hedgehogs whilst sparing a thought for all your sad princesses! Not to mention singing along with those watermelons!!

There were two notable “firsts” in this competition!

  • The first story written completely in rhyming verse!
  • The first word I had to look up in the dictionary because I’d never heard of it before!

And there was a lot of humour, which is always fun to come across, especially when judging!

You can read all the wonderful winning entries on my Clever Competition page right away! Just click on this link!

Two fabulous World Book Day visits last Friday!

May 2, 2022 at 9:24 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools | Leave a comment
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Lovely primary librarian Sarah Cha and me!

Last Friday I celebrated World Book Day with two fun school visits in Hong Kong by Zoom!

My first visit was to San Wui Commercial Society YMCA of Hong Kong Christian School in Cheung Sha Wan. I introduced my Chinese Calendar Tale for the Year of the Tiger, The Tale of Temujin, to the students and told them the extraordinary real life history of Genghis Khan, who was the inspiration for my tiger! The kids had a terrific time roaring like tigers and screaming like spoiled princesses and the teachers had an equally fun time blocking and unblocking their ears :)! We had a lot of fun!

Many thanks to Sarah Cha, primary librarian, for inviting me! Sarah wrote me a beautiful testimonial for the visit which you can find on my Teacher Testimonial page!

Here are some more fun pics! Thank you Sarah for sending them!

  • Once far away and farther on the vast Mongolian plains…
  • Time for a deafening ROAR!!!
  • The Imperial family in the Grand Imperial Palace (minus that horrible Princess Precious!)
  • The kids meet my toy tiger Tarini (gentler cousin of Temujin!)

Patience, my writer friends…

April 27, 2022 at 10:01 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions | Leave a comment
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From The Tale of Temujin, illustrated by Harry Harrison

If you’re one of the dedicated writers who entered my Terrific Tiger Tale writing competition, you’ll be wanting to know who won places! But I’m still reading and hugely enjoying your stories, so you’ll have to bear with me a little while longer! Hang in there, and if you get frustrated, just let out a little ROAR – it always helps :)!

Four fabulous sessions at Kennedy School!

March 17, 2022 at 12:04 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools | Leave a comment
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Hello to the students and staff!

Today and yesterday morning I Zoomed in to visit my old friends at Kennedy School in Hong Kong! We had four fabulous sessions with Years 1 to 4! The Year 1s enjoyed my show and tell story reading of The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, and were brilliant with their knowledge of the Chinese Zodiac Animals and the Legend of Lord Buddha’s Race! The Year 2s met my hungry Chester Choi and his friend Jimmy Lee, and the Year 3s and 4s roared like tigers and screamed like VERY spoiled princesses as they listened to me read The Tale of Temujin! We had a blast!! Huge thanks to Library Assistant Susan Mifsud for hosting me, and the PTA for inviting me in! It was lovely to see you all again! Here are some more photos below!

  • I introduce my toy panda to the Year 1s!
  • The Year 2s meet my toy dragon Billy Boy, cousin of Chester Choi!
  • Jimmy Lee and his friends the centipede and the cockroach go fishing!

Hear me reading The Tale of Temujin for Asia Society Hong Kong!

March 9, 2022 at 4:36 pm | Posted in Video recordings | Leave a comment
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Asia Society Hong Kong recording: The Tale of Temujin

A big thank you to Pauline Wong and all my friends at the fabulous Asia Society Hong Kong for making this fun Asia Society video available to all my fans! You can hear me reading The Tale of Temujin, with lots of fun details about the history behind the story and much more, while you roar like tigers and scream like spoiled princesses along with me! Have fun!!

That was a BUSY week!

March 6, 2022 at 12:43 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, mainland China schools | Leave a comment
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This week I had a fabulous time Zoom-visiting schools in Hong Kong and mainland China in the early hours of the morning from here in France!

On Tuesday, I visited the Year 4 students at Yew Chung International School in Chongqing with my writing workshop How to Write a Riveting Story! The kids used my story planner as I explained the importance of characters, setting and plot sequence, and by the end of the session had some fantastic story plans ready to go for their first draft! I can’t wait to see the results! Thanks to my lovely host, English co-ordinator Becca Roden for inviting me!

On Wednesday I visited the Kindies at Sias International School of Zhengdong New District, Zhengzhou to introduce them to my Chinese Calendar Tales with a fun reading of The Tale of Chester Choi, with my toy dragon Billy Boy looking on, then on Friday I visited the whole of primary school during assembly, where I talked all about How I became an Author and the crucial importance of reading books in the digital age, following which they roared like tigers and screamed like spoiled princesses while I read them this year’s Calendar Tale, The Tale of Temujin! Many thanks to librarian and media specialist Elizabeth Baker and tech wizard Tom Kerrigan for making the visit possible!

The fabulous and focussed Year 5s at Stamford American School Hong Kong

Meanwhile on Thursday, I finished my four sessions with my old friends at Stamford American School Hong Kong with a visit to 100 fabulous Year 5s in their homes, where I explained all the fabulous history and real-life mystery behind The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah (A Mystery in Hong Kong)! Thank you Aric Cherry for being such a fun host, and as ever, to Lisa Olinski for all the fantastic organisation!

Session 3 last week with the Grade 3s at SASHK

And today, I slept in…for a long, long time :)!

It was a real pleasure to be working with such enthusiastic and focused students! I look forward to seeing lots of entries from you in my latest Clever Competition, A Terrific Tiger Tale!

I’m judging the Rascally Rat Tale Competition now – and having such fun!

May 1, 2020 at 5:13 pm | Posted in Challenges and activities, Clever Competitions | Leave a comment
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Run Run running

Phew! The judging of the Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020 is done and dusted, and now I’m judging my Rascally Rat Tale Competition!! And I’m having so much fun! Thanks to the fabulous writers from Hong Kong, Melbourne, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney for sending in such terrific stories – and for their patience! The results will be out soon!

Ping Pong Pig bounces into Hutchins School in Hobart!

March 16, 2019 at 9:41 am | Posted in Hobart, Hobart Schools, Tasmania, The Hutchins School | Leave a comment
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IMG_7671

Wow! Look at that sky! It was what my Dad used to call a “blue and gold day” on Friday 8th March when Ping Pong Pig and I visited Hutchins Junior School at Sandy Bay in Hobart, Tasmania to visit our many friends there with my latest Chinese Calendar Tale in one packed session!  Just about every kid and teacher in school was there, from the Pre-Kindies to the Grade 6s, and they all fell in love with my feisty little pig as she evaded the Minister of Most Important Things in her romp around the Forbidden City in Beijing! Huge thanks to my dear friend, Head of Library Kate Reid, for inviting me in! And I’m looking forward to some great Hutchins entries in my Clever Competition!

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