The story about my first story 胖貓 A Fat Cat

The story came to me quite suddenly. I started jotting down some ideas on my notepad and I started writing about my two girls and our fat cat - thus the title of the first story: 胖貓 As the storyline developed, it had everything I was hoping for. It's about the kid's experience, from their perspectives, in their voice, and with the light hearted humour that young children can appreciate. I know my two girls enjoyed the story and couldn't stop giggling when I read it repeatedly to them on their request. I also can't help but giggle when my younger daughter, who in the story was too little to open the back door for the cat, protested. By the time the book was illustrated and stapled together for us to read together, she was big enough and just mastered the skill to open the back door. I got to move fast and capture more of these stories before they grow up!!

Writing these story also help motivate my children to learn Chinese. Well, that's the reason why I am doing this. They participated by suggesting story ideas, drawing the pictures, writing the characters, designing the cover, and stapling the pages together, Yes, we produced a home-made book first. All made by hand. Then I typed it up on the computer. Used it as a storyboard to create a short video. Then my girls help record the sound, direct the movie. It's shared on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT8KMQK6WhI. So far, it has been fun.