Hello Keystone Academy!
January 22, 2018 at 7:08 pm | Posted in Beijing Schools, Keystone Academy, Uncategorized, workshops | 2 CommentsTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese culture, Chinese folklore, Chinese history, Chinese Zodiac, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
I’ve just spent the first of two fun days at Keystone Academy! From its huge campus to its Hogwarts-esque buildings, its stylish boarding house to its stunning primary library, it’s a very impressive school indeed! This morning I met the Year 4s, telling them all about how I weave Chinese history, folklore and culture into my Chinese Calendar Tales, then spent a session after lunch with the Year 3s, walking them through the making of my latest book The Tale of Desmond Dog! Then it was off to the middle school lecture hall, where students from primary and upper school and some lovely mums and dads came to hear me reading Desmond Dog’s story! Here’s some of my audience above! To my right is my lovely host, primary librarian Jennifer Fuentes, together with Lizzie Wong to her right. To my left is Year 9 student Tori Gu, who was kind enough to collect me at the airport with Carlie Spruill (to her left) and who is a fantastic ambassador for the school! And to the left of Carlie is Elaine Yin. A big thank you to Jennifer, Carlie, Lizzie, Elaine and Tori for making me feel so welcome – not to mention all the wonderful teachers, students and parents! 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!
WOOF! Introducing The Tale of Desmond Dog!
January 14, 2018 at 4:58 pm | Posted in Book launches, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Buying my books, Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Chinese New Year, Online Sales | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Zodiac, Great children's books about Chinese culture, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog
Helloooo everybody and a very Happy New Year to you all! I hope that you had a wonderful festive season full of good fun with your families, and, of course, that you read a whole lot of fabulous books!
Speaking of which…here is the newest member of The Chinese Calendar Tales family, out just in time for the Year of the Dog! It’s full of fun verse, a terrifically exciting plot and Harry Harrison’s wonderful illustrations, as wacky and witty as ever!
It’s 1810, and infamous pirate queen Ching Shih and her Red Flags are terrorizing the South China Sea. Enter Desmond Dog, hero of the fishing village of Hong Kong! He’s noble, honest and kind, and loves to help others. But he’s also strong, daring and brave, with an excellent nose… in fact, he has the makings of an excellent pirate! Will Desmond be lured into a life of crime? And what will become of Ching Shih and her crew? Find out in this exciting tale of trickery, temptation…and treasure!
Don’t forget to buy your copy in your local bookshop OR you can order it online here right away!
And if you’d like to come along to the funny and fabulous Hong Kong launch of The Tale of Desmond Dog, make a note in your diary for Saturday 10th February at 2pm at Bookazine in Princes Building, Central. I’ll be posting your official invitation on this blog soon!
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