A fabulous Thursday at ICHK in Hong Lok Yuen!
January 18, 2019 at 3:26 pm | Posted in Chinese New Year, Hong Kong Schools, ICHK HLY, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Admiral Zheng He, Beijing, Forbidden City, Hongwu Emperor, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, Yongle Emperor, Zheng He, Zhu Di
Yesterday I introduced Ping Pong Pig to the gorgeous kids of International College Hong Kong in Hong Lok Yuen! They learned all about the founding of the Ming Dynasty by the extraordinary Hongwu Emperor; his wily fourth son, Zhu Di, who became the third Ming emperor when he stole the throne from his nephew; and the remarkable achievements of his reign including the building of the Forbidden City in Beijing and the treasure ships of Admiral Zheng He, whose seven voyages over the Indian ocean included three to Africa! Here I am above with six keen Grade 6 students, including library leaders, and below with lovely teacher librarian Charlie Beard who hosted me for the day, as well as all my zodiac toys! Thank you ICHK for making me feel so welcome again!
A fun morning at FSSA in Yau Tong!
April 18, 2018 at 2:14 pm | Posted in Fukien Secondary School Affiliated, Hong Kong Schools, Story Readings, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, Stories about dogs, Stories about pandas, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda
Many thanks to Head of English and Deputy Principal Nicolas Delbos (with me above right) and Sunny Ding (above left) for hosting me yesterday at Fukien Secondary School Affiliated Primary School for a morning of fun story readings with all the kids from Primary One to Primary Six! The P1 to P3 kids met my vain but loveable Pin Yin Panda as we explored the Legend of Lord Buddha’s Race and how all the animals got into the Chinese Zodiac in The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, while the P4 to P6s pretended to be fabulously fearsome pirates as I read them this year’s Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Desmond Dog! We had a lot of fun!
Deadline for Dashing Dog Story competition extended to 31 March!
March 4, 2018 at 2:46 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, writing competitions | Leave a commentTags: Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, Stories about dogs, The Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition, The Tale of Desmond Dog
WOOF! You now have an extra WEEK to get your Dashing Dog Story Competition entries in! So if you’re keen on being a published writer on my blog – which will make you a WORLD FAMOUS WRITER right away – you’ve now got an extra week up your sleeve to submit your entry and try for the first 6 places! The new deadline is SATURDAY 31 MARCH 2018 – you can find all the details and information about what and how to submit by clicking this link! I can’t wait to read your entry!
Aha me Japanese International School hearties!
February 8, 2018 at 8:52 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Japanese International School, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, Stories about pirates, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
On Monday this week, Desmond, I and all the other Chinese Calendar Tales beasties braved the cold snap to visit Japanese International School, here in Hong Kong! We had four funny and fabulous story reading sessions, with the kids in fine form as dogs (woof!), pirates (aha, me hearties!) and the wicked pirate queen Ching Shih (hissss!). Many thanks to my lovely librarian friend Cath Wan for hosting me, and to the kids and staff for their warm welcome once more! I hope to see lots of JIS entries in my Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition! Here I am with the Grade 6s (above) and, below, some great listeners, and young Ema Poposka – who you may recall was joint-winner of my March Madness Minibus Photo Competition in 2017!
Some scrumptious ISB kids!
February 1, 2018 at 9:50 am | Posted in Beijing Schools, International School of Beijing, Week in Residence | Leave a commentTags: Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda
My week with ISB has been continuing apace, with such a lot of fun with so many scrumptious kiddies! Here I am with the gorgeous Grade 1s and my lovely ES librarian friend Rebecca Talyor (to my left) and Grade 1SD teacher Stephanie Dracz!
I begin my Week in Residence at ISB!
January 29, 2018 at 8:17 pm | Posted in Beijing Schools, International School of Beijing, Week in Residence | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, The Year of the Dog
Today was the first day of a whole week of fabulous fun at the wonderful International School of Beijing, with the kids of Pre-Kinder 3 right up to the big kids of Grade 2! Today my Chinese dragon Chester Choi and I met some delicious four year olds in PreK4, then two Grade 1 classes learned all about the Chinese Zodiac when they met Pin Yin Panda, and the Kinders acted out my new story The Tale of Desmond Dog, with lots of “Woofs!” from the dogs, “Aha me hearties!” from the wicked pirates and “EEEKs!” from the scared villagers of Hong Kong! It was SO much fun! Then some gorgeous 3 year olds in PreK3 met all my stuffed toys! Here are my toys, sitting in a Chinese Zodiac row (except the Big Cat and the Panda, who didn’t make it into the Zodiac, and Desmond being Top Dog on my dragon, because it’s HIS year in 2018!
Huge thanks to my lovely host Bec Taylor, librarian for Lower Primary, here with my friend Paul Wong, who is librarian for Upper Primary!
Come to the Hong Kong launch of Desmond Dog!
January 29, 2018 at 7:40 pm | Posted in Book launches, Bookazine Princes Building, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Bookshop event, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Bookazine Princes Building, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese history for kids, Ching Shih, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
If you’re in Hong Kong on Saturday 10th February, then come and join Harry Harrison and me at the Hong Kong launch of our latest Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Desmond Dog! It’s a true Hong Kong story, set in the fishing village of what we now call Aberdeen, with a noble dog, a wicked pirate queen and lots of pirates and treasure! It’s for kids from 4 to 12 years old – and for anyone who loves dogs, Hong Kong, and Chinese history!!! I look forward to seeing you all there! And remember to RSVP to Bookazine at the number/email address on the invitation above!
Thank you Stamford American School of Hong Kong!
January 18, 2018 at 5:40 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Stamford American School Hong Kong, workshops | Leave a commentTags: A Dirty Story, Chinese Calendar Tales, How to Write a Riveting Story, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Tale of Desmond Dog
Today I spent a fantastic day at the brand new Stamford American School of Hong Kong in Ho Man Tin! It’s a wonderful place and I really enjoyed meeting all the terrific kids and teachers! The Kindies and Grade 1s learned some fun environmental lessons with a story reading of A Dirty Story, and at the end of the session promised me hand on heart NOT to become Grots! The Grade 2s met my latest Chinese Calendar Tales character in The Tale of Desmond Dog and the Grade 3s enthusastically answered all my questions in my How to Write A Riveting Story workshop! Many thanks to the lovely Lisa Olinski (with me above) who was the perfect host! I look forward to seeing you all again tomorrow!
Desmond Dog the Hero visits Kennedy School!
January 18, 2018 at 5:37 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Kennedy School, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Ching Shih, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, Stories about pirates, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
Desmond Dog, the hero of Hong Kong, is so noble he even saves drowning cats! But yesterday there was not a cat in sight when he visited the 900 kids of Kennedy School in Pok Fu Lam! We had 3 fabulous reading sessions and the kids made expert pirates and dogs with their “ah-ha-me-hearties” , “woof“s and “ROAR”s! Everybody LOVED Harry Harrison’s funny and fabulous illustrations, and was fascinated to hear the history of that notorious pirate queen Ching Shih! Many thanks to all the lovely staff and especially Jeff Moore, Head of English, who was my wonderful host! Photos to come!
Meet Burger and Long Long!
January 16, 2018 at 12:59 pm | Posted in Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Kingston International School Hong Kong | Leave a commentTags: Chinese history, Chinese Zodiac, Harry Harrison, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
Whenever I visit a school to give the VERY FIRST reading of my new Chinese Calendar Tale, I give the kids in the very first session what I call “naming rights” for the two little extra creatures that our fabulous illustrator, Harry Harrison, adds to all the pictures in the book!
Yesterday, at the very first ever reading of The Tale of Desmond Dog, that session happened to be for the kids of Grade One at Kingston International School in Kowloon Tong!
After hotly contested debate, they came up with the following:
Burger the Hermit Crab: Long Long the Sea Louse:
I think those names are great!
So when you get your copy of the book here, make sure you check every page and see if you can find Burger and Long Long!
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