Kung Hei Fat Choy!! It’s officially the Year of the Pig!
February 5, 2019 at 10:59 am | Posted in Chinese festivals, Chinese New Year, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
Illustration credit : Harry Harrison from The Tale of Ping Pong Pig
She’s singing! She’s dancing! And she’s gobbling…A LOT!!! Just what any happy little pig should do at Chinese New Year, especially when it’s HER year!! Ping Pong Pig and I would like to wish all our fans – be they pig-lovers or pork-lovers – a very happy New Year of the Pig!
May your mornings be full of joy, your afternoons full of mirth, and your nights full of peace! And may your tummies be content, always!
Kung Hei Fat Choy!
A Funny and Fabulous Visit to Shatin Junior School!
February 4, 2019 at 2:35 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Shatin Junior School | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac for kids, Books about the Year of the Pig, Emperor Zhu Di, Ming Dynasty, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig, Yongle Emperor
Illustration credit: Harry Harrison. From The Tale of Ping Pong Pig.
My second school visit last week, on Wednesday, was to my dear friends at Shatin Junior School, just around the corner from my office in Fo Tan! In four very noisy and animated sessions all the kids from P1 to P6 made friends with Ping Pong Pig, and echoes of “Run Pig! Run!” could be heard in the playground in all the breaks! Above, you can see Ping Pong heading off to the Forbidden City in the evil clutches of the Minister of Most Important Things! Run Pig! Run! And below, me and my toy pig Paavo (cousin of Ping Pong Pig) with a fabulous bunch of Year 6 Pig lovers!
A wonderful visit to Beacon Hill School in Kowloon Tong!
February 4, 2019 at 2:27 pm | Posted in Beacon Hill School, Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac for kids, Chinese New Year, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
Last week I visited two lovely schools with Ping Pong Pig and all her Chinese Zodiac animal cousins! Here I am above with a fabulous hall of students at Beacon Hill School in Kowloon Tong! All the primary school classes met my new Chinese Calendar Tales character Ping Pong in 4 big, fun sessions, and cheered on my little pig as she kept escaping the clutches of the wily Minister of Most Important Things in his attempt to win favour with the third Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Di! Many thanks, as ever, to the lovely Emily Jeves, Deputy Principal, for inviting me in and being such a great host! Here we both are with our own animal signs (I’m a Rat and Emily is a Dragon, and we both love that Ping Pong Pig) below!
A fantastic Thursday at Shrewsbury College Hong Kong!
January 25, 2019 at 4:15 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Parent workshops, Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong, Story Readings | 1 CommentTags: How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
Yesterday I drove down to Tseung Kwan O to visit the beautiful campus at Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong! My lovely hosts Beth McNeilly, School Librarian, and Jane Wong, Library Assistant, gave me a fantastic welcome! I introduced all the kids from Grade 2 to Grace 6 to my pretty Ping Pong Pig, and then spoke to some dedicated parents all about How to Create Bookworms in the Digital Age. It was a wonderful day! Thanks Beth for the photos below!
Another great visit to Stamford American International School…with an SCMP journalist!
January 23, 2019 at 8:32 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, media articles, School visits, Stamford American School Hong Kong, Story Readings, writing workshops for children | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac, How to Write a Riveting Story, South China Morning Post, Sunday Post, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Dragon, The Year of the Pig
Ping Pong Pig and I continued our funny and fabulous Hong Kong School tour on Tuesday afternoon with a visit to my friends at Stamford American International School in Ho Man Tin, where I am proud to be a Global Mentor. And this time I was accompanied by Fionnuala McHugh, a journalist for the South China Morning Post, who is writing a feature article for the Sunday Post for Chinese New Year!
After photos in the Activity Room, our terrific host Lisa Olinski introduced me to some lovely parents and younger kids who heard me reading my “youngest” book, The Tale of Chester Choi, and enthusiastically joined in with contributions as to how you chop off a dragon’s head, especially if it’s threatening your Dad! Then a lovely roomful of older kids and their parents heard my Tale of Ping Pong Pig, together with a whole lot of fascinating history about the third Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Di and his best friend the explorer Admiral Zheng He and his seven epic journeys in huge Treasure Boats as far as Africa!
Lastly, I gave my popular How to Write a Riveting Story workshop to the hardy mums and children who stayed on after the story reading! It was a busy, fun day, and wonderful to see this lovely school again! More photos to come!
A fabulous Monday at Victoria Shanghai Academy
January 23, 2019 at 7:52 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Victoria Shanghai Academy | Leave a commentTags: The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
Ping Pong Pig and my other Chinese Calendar Tales characters had a busy visit on Monday to Victoria Shanghai Academy in Aberdeen! After the Year 2s heard The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, showing a very impressive knowledge of the Chinese Zodiac, the Year 3s, 4s and 5s heard my new Tale of Ping Pong Pig! We had a lot of fun! Warm thanks to my lovely host Judi Taylor, a lovely fellow Aussie and head of Digital and Information Literacy. More photos to come!
Two faraway fans!
January 20, 2019 at 2:42 pm | Posted in Fabulous fans!, Shanghai schools | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, The Year of the Pig, The Year of the Rabbit
I was so happy to hear this week from two of my lovely fans from far away! To the left is Renzo, dressed as Rhonda Rabbit for Book Week at the International School of Panama in Central America – fabulous costume Renzo! I trust that you’re eating all your greens! And to the right is Zara from Texas in the United States with my latest book The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, and the rest of the Chinese Calendar Tales set! Zara met me many years ago at her school in Shanghai! Warm thanks to their dad Luis and mum Helen respectively for sending me these fabulous photos! A very early, happy Year of the Pig to you all!
A Piggy Reminder!!
January 19, 2019 at 9:50 am | Posted in Book launches, Bookazine Exchange Square | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese Zodiac, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
Ping Pong Pig is singing very enthusiastically at the top of her lungs today to remind you to register for her funny and fabulous Launch Party! It’s next Saturday at 2pm at Bookazine Exchange Square, Shop 305-07 One Exchange Square Central! You can just turn up…but it would really help planning if you would register first! Here’s the link! Just put Ping Pong Pig Launch in the subject box and say how many people are coming!
Here’s a reminder of all the fun we’re going to have!
Ping Pong Pig visits the brand new Malvern College Hong Kong!
January 18, 2019 at 10:31 am | Posted in Chinese New Year, Hong Kong Schools, Malvern College Hong Kong, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
On Tuesday this week, I was honoured to be the very first author to visit Hong Kong’s brand new Malvern College HK, set by the Science Park just by Tolo Harbour and Tai Po! It’s a beautiful school, with lots of space and light, which opened in September last year, and it already has hundreds of very keen students! The Prep 1s met my lonely dragon in The Tale of Chester Choi; the Prep 2s met cheeky Pin Yin Panda and all the animals of the Chinese Zodiac in The Tale of Ping Pong Panda, and the Prep 3s to 6s all met my latest addition to the Chinese Calendar Tales, my plump and pretty Ping Pong Pig! It was a fabulous day! Thanks so much to my wonderful hosts Ryan Dempsey, head of Library, and deputy librarian Karen Potts, pictured in the library above!
Ping Pong’s First Day at School in Hong Kong!
January 17, 2019 at 6:20 pm | Posted in Chinese New Year, Hong Kong Schools, Kingston International School Hong Kong, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
On Monday this week, Ping Pong danced in to visit all my old friends (and young!) at Kingston International School in Kowloon Tong! There were story readings for everyone, from Grade 2 to Grade 5, and lots of fun for everybody! Thank you Jade Engelbrecht for being such a fabulous host!
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