A Misty Day at The Peak School!
March 9, 2016 at 4:00 pm | Posted in Books about Chinese Zodiac, School visits, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, The Peak School, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey
What a magical day it was today at The Peak School – I swear that Chester Choi was flapping around us near his magic cave, high up that misty mountain today! I had four fabulous sessions with the Year 3s and Year 4s, who all heard my Ming Kee Monkey’s tale, while learning all about Xuanzang, the great Buddhist traveller, and the wonderful Emperor Taizong of Tang…not to mention the rare animals of Yunnan’s jungles! Many thanks to my friend, teacher librarian Liz Mills-Campbell and lovely library technician Susan, for hosting me today. I can’t wait to get all your entries in my Clever Competition (see button above)! And a big hello to a very cute student in Year 3, below, who came to Book Week this week as Pin Yin Panda and even built a model of Pin Yin’s home in the Wolong forest in Sichuan! Here we are with the model, and my cheeky Pandora panda, having a play date with Pin Yin Panda!
A fun day with my old friends at Shatin Junior School!
March 7, 2016 at 5:04 pm | Posted in Books about Chinese Zodiac, Chinese New Year, School visits, Story Readings, workshops | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Publishing workshops, Shatin Junior School, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey
It was great to see my old friends at Shatin Junior School again today, and to introduce all the kids from Year 1 to Year 5 to my mischievous Ming Kee Monkey…not to mention the great Emperor Taizong of Tang, the brave Buddhist traveller Xuanzang, and The Legend of the Monkey King and the Journey to the West! And after a fun day of story readings, I ended with a workshop with Class 5.4 on Publishing Picture Books from Brilliant Idea to Final Product! During my publishing workshop, I had the great pleasure to meet a fellow-publisher, Justin Au, who has published his own fantastic book of cartoons! Here we are below with our books:
I’ll be back again with more workshops for the Year 5s tomorrow, and with Writing Workshops for the Year 4s next Tuesday. I can’t wait! Many thanks to literacy co-ordinator Skye Jeynes for inviting me!
An Homage to Hobart with my mischievous Monkey!
March 5, 2016 at 4:27 pm | Posted in Hobart, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, Year of the Monkey
Farewell to my beautiful home town Hobart, which I left with great sadness to return home to Hong Kong yesterday! It was wonderful to come home to my family, and Bobby our dog of course, but I’m already missing the clear skies, incredible beauty, peace and calm of Hobart, and of course the delicious food, my Tassie relatives, and my friends both new and old!
So here is an homage to my birthplace, in company with my cute Monkey Bear, a.k.a. Monkey Monkey, cousin of my mischievous Ming Kee Monkey!
Early morning, Sandy Bay by the yacht club (there were even wild ducks and galahs on the grass!)
Afternoon at MONA (Tasmania’s world-famous Museum of Old and New Art), at Berriedale, nestled amongst grapevines on a bend in the Derwent River!
Driving home via Cornelian Bay, with its pretty boathouses and view of The Tasman Bridge:
We dropped in to see the Governor at Tasmania’s beautiful Government House, by the Botanical Gardens, but sadly nobody let us in!
Dusk at the famous Salamanca Place with Kelly’s Steps…
And finally, Battery Point; heritage-listed and full of historical buildings, with my dear school friend Sally Kennedy (nee Barrett) posing with Monkey Monkey in Arthur’s Circus!
Goodbye beautiful Hobart, I’ll be back next year with my next book for the Year of the Rooster!
A busy book signing at The Hobart Bookshop!
February 27, 2016 at 7:12 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Bookshop event, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Hobart, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Story Readings, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey
Today Ming Kee Monkey and I made a special visit to The Hobart Bookshop at Tasmania’s famous Salamanca Place for a book-signing, a story reading, and a chance to meet some new fans and to introduce them to my books about the Chinese Zodiac animals! Many thanks to Janet Grecian for hosting the event! I look forward to meeting more of my Hobart fans at some fabulous primary schools this week!
Thank you MLC!
February 24, 2016 at 6:54 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Melbourne schools, Monkey story, School visits, Uncategorized, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese Zodiac, Story Readings, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, Writing Competitions for Kids, Year of the Monkey
A big THANK YOU to the lovely Tracey Ricchini, Junior School Teacher Librarian, and the fabulous girls and staff at Methodist Ladies College, for a wonderful day today! It was so good to see you all again, and to introduce you to my maverick Ming Kee Monkey, as well as the rare and exotic plants and creatures of the jungles of Yunnan Province…not to mention Emperor Taizong of Tang, the extraordinary Buddhist explorer Xuanzang, and the Legend of the Monkey King and the Journey to the West! You made a fantastic audience; thank you so much for your enthusiasm and interest! I look forward to receiving LOADS of MLC entries in my Clever Competition!
Exactly 1 month to go to enter the Mischievous Monkey Story Competition!
February 24, 2016 at 4:34 am | Posted in Monkey story, Uncategorized, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese Zodiac, primary school, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, Writing Competitions for Kids
You’d better get cracking! There is just ONE MONTH to go to get your entry into my Mischievous Monkey Story writing competition! Click on the Clever Competitions button above for all the details!
A fabulous day at Kingston International School, Kowloon Tong!
February 16, 2016 at 4:40 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Hong Kong Schools, Uncategorized, writing competitions, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Hong Kong Schools, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, Writing Competitions for Kids, Writing workshops
Today I had the best day doing workshops with Upper Primary at Kingston International School in Kowloon Tong! The Grade 4s unscrambled limericks and identified haikus and completed the gaps in a horrifying poem called Let’s Destroy the School in my Introduction to Poetry Workshop! The Grade 5s and 6s learned all about How to Write a Riveting Story that will glue the reader’s nose to the page, and left with a fab Story Planning sheet to plan their next stories! And some of them even promised to use them to plan their entry into my current Clever Competition (see tab at the top of this page!). I can’t wait to read their entries! Huge thanks to the lovely Jennifer Shaw for hosting me today! Photos to come!
Thank you Japanese International School!
February 15, 2016 at 8:41 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Hong Kong Schools, Monkey story, School visits, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, Year of the Monkey
A big THANK YOU to the fabulous staff and students of Grades 3 to 6 at Japanese International School in Tai Po for a fun day today! It was great to introduce you to my mischievous Ming Kee Monkey, not to mention some of the fascinating, rare animals of the Yunnan jungle like Binturongs, Gaurs, Civet Cats, Gibbons and Lorises named Doris! And then the Grade 5s and 6s and I met again for fun and games in my Introduction to Poetry Workshops! I was especially impressed with the talent they showed in completing our poem Let’s Destroy the School! I look forward to lots of entries in my Clever Competition – see the button above!
Monkeys, monkeys everywhere!
February 10, 2016 at 9:17 am | Posted in Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Monkey story | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Zodiac, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, Year of the Monkey
Help! It’s a Monkey Invasion! There are monkeys EVERYWHERE here in Hong Kong – and there were even monkeys rampaging in Singapore! Here is just a small selection of the monkeys I’ve encountered in the last 10 days – see if you can spot my Monkey Monkey (cousin of Ming Kee Monkey) in the collage above!
Kung Hei Fat Choy from Ming Kee Monkey and Me!!
February 8, 2016 at 6:02 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Monkey story, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, Year of the Monkey
Today is the first day of Chinese New Year!! Kung Hei Fat Choy from Ming Kee Monkey and me for a fabulous Year of the Monkey ahead! We wish you all health, wealth and great happiness, not to mention wisdom, which (when you read The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey you will find that Ming Kee achieved in the end, although not until she’d been through a lot of trouble after causing WAY too much mischief in the jungles of Yunnan first!). Have a great holiday, and see you all next week!
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