A fabulous family of fans send this photo!
February 14, 2018 at 8:13 am | Posted in children's literacy, Fantastic fans! | 3 CommentsTags: Books about Chinese Zodiac, Reading With Your Kids, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
I was very honoured today to receive this lovely photo of one of my young fans, Osman Pasha, with last year’s book The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster! Osman’s mum Janana tells me that Pasha and his older brothers have grown up reading my Chinese Calendar Tales and they love them! She tells me that, being of Russian speaking background educated on Pushkin and Lermintov, she really appreciates the rhythm and rhyme in my poetry – thank you so much Janana for your lovely message and for allowing me to post this photo! I’m delighted to meet you and Pasha and please do send my warmest wishes to your boys!
Thank you Think International School!
November 24, 2017 at 12:15 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Poetry Workshops for kids, writing workshops for children | Leave a commentTags: How to Write a Riveting Story, Introduction to Poetry Workshop, PLK CKY School, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
Yesterday I spent a happy day at Think International School in Cheung Sha Wan with the Year 4 to 6 students and their team of dedicated teachers. We started with a story reading of The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster, when the kids learned a LOT of history about the end of the Chinese Empire and the growth of nationalism and communism in China at the beginning of the 20th Century – and had fun cheering for their favourite team in the Shanghai Cup! We then followed with two Introduction to Poetry workshops for the Year 4s and Year 6s, and my How to Write a Riveting Story workshop for the Year 5s! It was a full-on day of learning and fun! Thanks to my hosts Melanie Bates, and librarian Christine Olsen and assistant CK Tam (both pictured above) for a fabulous day!
A Riveting Story Time at PLK CKY!
November 3, 2017 at 9:23 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, PLK CKY School, workshops | Leave a commentTags: How to Write a Riveting Story, Storm Whale, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
A big hello to two of my favourite Hong Kong librarians Tammy Ng and Joli Moore, at Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau School in Piper’s Hill, Kowloon, pictured with me above. Joli (to my left) was my wonderful host yesterday for 3 fabulous workshop sessions with the gorgeous Grade 3s, who enthusiastically joined my How to Write a Riveting Story workshop! We had lots of fun thinking working with our five senses to describe different settings and imagining great characters, and the kids all enjoyed my famous adventure story (about the missing dog and the alien abductors) and mystery story (about the missing teachers at PLK CKY :)) as we talked about correct story structure! And I showed them all my latest Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster, and my beautiful new book Storm Whale I can’t wait to meet the Grade 4s with my Poetry Workshop in 3 weeks’ time! More photos to come!
Thank you Kowloon Junior School!
October 30, 2017 at 6:28 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Kowloon Junior School, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Chinese history, Chinese Zodiac, Storm Whale, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
Today I had the great pleasure of visiting my old friends at Kowloon Junior School! My lovely host was librarian Carrie Davison, above, who organised a fun-filled day of story readings! I saw four big year groups: the Grade Ones met my hungry dragon in The Tale of Chester Choi; the Grade Twos heard all about the Legend of Lord Buddha’s Race – and why pandas aren’t in the Chinese Zodiac, in The Tale of Pin Yin Panda; the Grade Threes heard my lyrical story Storm Whale and fell in love with Jane Tanner’s gorgeous illustrations of the grand old whale, and the Grade Fours got a fabulous history lesson all about the end of imperialism in China … as well as a fun story reading of The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster and a talk about the symbolism in the Chinese Zodiac! Phew! It was a busy day, but a fun one! More photos to come soon!
A Whale of a Time at Glenealy School!
October 26, 2017 at 9:11 pm | Posted in Glenealy School, Hong Kong Schools, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Storm Whale, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
Today I had a fabulous time at Glenealy School in Hong Kong, introducing the Grade 5s and 6s to my noisy Rickshaw Rooster (and some REALLY juicy Chinese history), and the Grade 1s to Grade 4s to my beautiful Storm Whale! The kids were so full of interesting comments and questions, and I think we can conclude that just about everybody loves whales…and roosters! Huge thanks to my wonderful host, the lovely Gisele Stones (holding Storm Whale, above) and to her fantastic library assistants Stephanie Mathyssek and Elaine Pullinger to our left and right! Afterwards I had the great pleasure of meeting Gavin Coates, the author of the fabulous Earthy series! Here we are above, to the right! More photos below!
My Marvellous Day at MLC, Melbourne!
June 1, 2017 at 10:36 am | Posted in Australian schools, Being an Author, children's literacy, Melbourne schools, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Methodist Ladies College, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
It was wonderful to visit my old friends at Methodist Ladies College Junior School yesterday, and to catch up with my dear friend, librarian Tracey Ricchini (below)! I had SUCH a great day introducing my latest Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster, to the girls from Grades 3 to 6 in three wonderful sessions chockful of history and fun, and then meeting up with my very favourite Book Bugs (above) at lunchtime for a lovely long chat about being an author, as well as a sneak preview of Storm Whale. Tracey is one of the most dedicated librarians I know, and we spent every spare moment talking about our most passionate shared interest – children’s literacy. The girls of MLC love their books, and below you can see a photo of Tilda Clohesy, a young author who has written and illustrated her own excellent children’s book! Thanks Tracey for a brilliant day and I look forward to seeing you all again next year!
Thanks Fullers for a funny and fabulous event!
May 27, 2017 at 4:01 pm | Posted in Being an Author, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Bookshop event, Chinese festivals, Hobart | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Fuller's Bookshop, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
A big thank you to all the friendly efficient staff at Fullers Bookshop in Hobart for hosting a wonderful event this afternoon for me and Rickshaw Rooster! We had a lovely crowd of babies, kids, pre-teens, mums, dads and grandparents, who cockadoodle-dooed beautifully during my story reading, learned lots of Chinese history, and did brilliantly in the post-reading Quiz (for which they won some tasty fortune cookies!) Special thanks to my host for the day, Anne – photographed with me above; to Cat, the fabulous shop manager, and to Peter Igram-Jones who so patiently and efficiently handled all the lovely book sales in the three schools I visited this week (even though we sold out of four of my titles!). I’ll see you again soon!
Rickshaw Rooster meets Hobart kids at Fullers Bookshop on Saturday!
May 26, 2017 at 6:49 pm | Posted in Books about Chinese Zodiac, Bookshop event, Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Chinese festivals, Chinese New Year, Hobart | Leave a commentTags: Fuller's Bookshop, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster, The Year of the Rooster
Rickshaw Rooster is saying a big HELLOOOO to Hobart tomorrow at Fullers Bookshop at 3pm in a fun belated Chinese New Year event to celebrate the Year of the Rooster! We’ll have laisee packets with tasty money, a fun story reading, a book-signing, a quiz with fun prizes for kids, mums and dads, and even some free Year of the Rooster bookmarks! So if you’re in Hobart this Saturday afternoon, come along and join the fun!
Cock-a-doodle-DOOOOO!
Helloooo St Michael’s Collegiate girls!
May 25, 2017 at 4:38 pm | Posted in Australian schools, Hobart, Story Readings, workshops | Leave a commentTags: Clever Competitions, Introduction to Poetry Workshop, Publishing workshops, St Michael's Collegiate School, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
Today I spent a fabulous morning at St Michael’s Collegiate Middle School and a fantastic afternoon at Collegiate Junior School in South Hobart! The Grade 5s and Grade 4s worked very hard – with a lot of fun thrown in – in two Introduction to Poetry Workshops, with some excellent work in rhyming words, solving limerick puzzles and writing a group haiku about their teachers :). The Grade 6 girls learned all about Publishing a Picture Book from Brilliant Idea to Final Product:- I do hope you find it helpful when you make your picture books later this year girls! And the gorgeous Grades 2 to 4 heard my Tale of Rickshaw Rooster and learned some fascinating Chinese history! And afterwards I signed lots and lots of books for my new fans! It was such fun to meet you all and I’m sure I’m going to get some terrific entries from you all in my upcoming Clever Competitions! Huge thanks to the lovely Jodie Heath for inviting me and being such a stellar host! More photos to come!
A fun day with the boys of Hutchins School in Sandy Bay!
May 24, 2017 at 8:00 pm | Posted in Australian schools, Being an Author, School visits | Leave a commentTags: Chinese dragons, Chinese history, The Hutchins School, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
My Tassie tour kicked off with a fabulous morning at The Hutchins School in Sandy Bay, Hobart, today, where I caught up with my old friend Kate Reid, Head of Libraries at Hutchins, who used to be the primary librarian at AISHK in Hong Kong! Kate invited me in for two fab sessions, first with the Years 3 and 4 plus some intrepid Year 6 boys, who found out all about Chinese history from the mid-1700s right up to the founding of the People’s Rebublic of China in 1949, when I read them The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster! Then the Year 1s and 2s met my hungry child-eating dragon in The Tale of Chester Choi and learned some very useful facts about the dragon in Chinese mythology! Thanks Kate, teachers and boys for a memorable morning! And here is one of my new fans, George, who buried himself into my Tale of a Dark Horse! It was great to meet you George!
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