The International School Singapore, Day Two

So after a really enjoyable first day at the International School Singapore, Emma and I headed back there the next morning to conduct workshops with second and third graders.

Again I am amazed at how bright and well-mannered the children are, much more than I was when I was back in school. They caught on really quickly and they came up with some amazing ideas.

Emma with two students reading their ideas out

After a brief break, we were ready for the group of  students Denise had to go off for a meeting so she couldn't hang around to take pictures, but that's OK. Our second workshop was as much fun as the first one.

Both Emma and I hadn't conducted workshops together before this, but we had a blast. I hope the kids had fun and learnt something too.

With that, my official part of my visit to ISS had come to an end. Emma still had one more talk after lunch, so we made a quick dash to the Ion food court before high-tailing it back to school for her talk with fourth graders.

Now, you wouldn't have been able to tell that this was Emma's first solo school talk. She's a natural She had the kids enthralled from the start. 

And as the session drew to a close, the kids got in line to for her to autograph their copies of Princess Petunia's Dragon.

With that our time at ISS was over. I have to say that we both had a tremendous time and once again I have to say a tremendous thanks  to Susan, Marilu and Graham.

The Writing Year

It's barely been two weeks into the new year and I've already broken several resolutions. Oh well, I guess I can start over for Chinese New Year, right? Anyway, I'll try to be better at  from now on.

Firstly, I hope to be more disciplined with myself when it comes to writing. The beginning of the year always reminds me of the first school. For one thing, I get anxious about the year ahead and for another, I regret the the things I didn't accomplish the previous year. So my new year's resolution is to be much more time efficient and productive this year.

Speaking of the first day of school, Emma came back  from the UK in time to help me with the final proofing of Sebbie's First Day of School. Thanks, Emma.

Final Proofs for Sebbie's First Day of School

Emma's book Princess Petunia's Dragon is now available at Kinokuniya, MPH and all good bookstores in Singapore, so go grab a copy now! It's a brilliant book, really brilliant...a real fire-breather of a book. Stop reading this blog and buy a copy.

Emma at Kinokuniya with Princess Petunia!

Sarah's back safely from Cambodia and is hard at work on the third book in her pawtastical Purple Paw Print series and it should be out by May, just in time for the Asian Festival of Children's Content, right, Sarah? Sarah's  award-winning books are so much fun and unpredictable too. Kid's love them and I can't wait for the next one too!

Another book I'm terribly excited about is Darcy Moon and the Deep Fried Frogs by Catherine Carvell, which will be published in March. I was there when it was being written and I was lucky enough to be there when Catherine was crafting the story. It's hilarious and it's a green book too.  And by that I don't just mean it's an environmentally friendly book, I mean it's literally green - look it's got a green cover!   

And finally, Kristina Thornton and Michael Csokas's The Wee Adventures of Shabu Shabu: The Jade Legend has been a hit with kids here in Singapore, Sri Lanka, Japan and the USA since they launched it at the Asian Festival of Children's Content this year. The imaginative duo also have a top app for the book on itunes so buy it now for hours of entertainment for yourself or the kids in your life.

Now the sequel's about to hit to bookshelves. so get ready to order your copies of the next guaranteed blockbuster from Csoka and Thornton, The Wee Adventures of Shabu Shabu: The  Silk Route.

The working cover of book (NOT THE FINAL COVER)

Mark my words, Emma's, Sarah's and Catherine's, Kristina's and Michael's books are bound to be a best-selling award-winning must-have books of 2014.

That's it for now. I'll blog more tomorrow when I should actually be writing my next book! 

Emma and her Elephant head to the NTUC Back to School Fair

This weekend I headed down to the National Library for NTUC's annual Back to School Fair for a book reading and art and craft session. Thankfully Emma agreed to read the story and Auntie Susanna and Karen also kindly volunteered to help out with the art and craft session.

My 45 minute session was scheduled to start promptly at 11:30, so I got there at around 11:00 and met up with Emma and her husband Jim at the Hanis cafe. Emma brought along her freshly printed book Princess Petunia's Dragon and I was one of the lucky few who got my hands on one of the advance copies. Thanks, Emma, it's a brilliant book and bound to be a best-seller!

Then it was time to set things up.  I'm always anxious before any presentation so I was thankful that Auntie Susanna, Karen and Kenneth were already in the room. While Ken had to dash off for another event, Auntie Susanna and Karen started setting up the art supplies, candy canes, and bookmarks for the kids, and Emma and I braced ourselves for the story reading. Soefara, my illustrator for the Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di series, showed up just as we about to start and took a place at the back of the room. Thanks, Soefara!

I was terrified that no one would show up but then when the doors opened, a stream of kids and parents filed in. My throat began to dry up as it usually does before I address and audience, so I took a gulp of my coca-cola and then introduced Emma and myself.

I told the kids that this was Emma's story and she really did have an invisible elephant when she was younger but none of them actually bought that! One kid actually said that he used to like elephants but now he preferred dinosaurs. 

With only forty-five minutes for story telling and the art and craft session, Emma took to the podium and began reading. She has an excellent reading voice and I wish I could read like her. As she was reading, I assigned myself to the difficult task of handling the powerpoint slide show.


After  Emma was done reading, we quizzed the kids to see if they had actually been paying attention and when they answered the questions correctly, Karen handed out small prizes of bookmarks and Christmas candy canes.

Then it was time for art and craft and Auntie Susanna, Karen, Emma and I helped the kids and parents make paper-plate elephants. Thanks goes to Vivian Kirkfield for her art and craft idea!

Karen and Me

It was quite something trying to coordinate the distribution of the art and craft material to all the kids but thanks to Auntie Susanna, Emma, Karen and Stephanie of NBDCS everyone got what they needed and got down to the task at hand - creating a paper plate elephant.

Working on the craft

The kids were told that Auntie Susanna would pick the three designs that she thought were the best and they would each receive a copy of Emma's Elephant.

Very creative

Finished!

That's mine!

Auntie Susanna about to announce the winners 

After much deliberation, Auntie Susanna picked the three winners and they stepped up to receive their prizes. Everyone else received with Emma's Elephant and Princess Petunia's Dragon bookmarks.

Then Emma spoke briefly about Princess Petunia's Dragon which will be out in January at all good  book shops, so go buy a copy, people! 

On that note, it was a mad rush to tidy up before the next session. I felt completely spent, so exhausted and I can't thank Emma, Auntie Susanna and Karen enough for all their help. 

Then we high-tailed it out of there for a chicken rice lunch before we all headed back home. We would be back the following day for Auntie Susanna's session.

Emma signs Karen's copy of Princess Petunia

A Dragon for Christmas

Emma Nicholson's Princess Petunia's Dragon

It's that time of year, where people are hitting the shops left, right and centre in their scramble to do as much shopping as possible before the CHRISTMAS day. In other words it's an incredibly so stressful time of the year! And if you've got young ones at home, you're probably dashing about from toy store to toy store looking for their favourite doll, action figure or game. Why not get them a good book as well? The world of imagination is the best gift you can give anyone and my gift recommendation for you is Emma Nicholson's Princess Petunia's Dragon, illustrated by Charlotte Micklewright. It'll make a great gift not just for Christmas, but for any occasion. Or as I call it a 'just-so gift', a gift you buy just so you can make someone happy.

Looking at the proofs at the printers

At the moment, Princess Petunia's Dragon is entering its final stages of labour and will be delivered in about two weeks. Emma's been working on it for quite a while and I have to say that she's done an outstanding job.  I love the story-it's brilliant - and the proofs look amazing. I can't wait to see the actual book.

This weekend, Emma invited Kenneth and me over to her place to have a look at some of the proofs and for a tea of mince pies - yum! To be clear, the mince pies were yum, we didn't eat the proofs! :) 

Emma showing the proofs to Kenneth

Then I followed Emma to the printers for one last proof check before the book is put to bed.

Emma checks everything thoroughly.

Everything looks good.

Emma and Jeremy of Image Printers Pte Ltd.

Yay! Done!

So now all that's left is to wait. The book will go to print in the next couple of days and I'll let you know when it's out so you can go and order it. Congratulations, Emma. Well done!