Shamini Flint lives in Singapore with her husband and two children. She began her career in law in Malaysia and also worked at an international law firm in Singapore. She travelled extensively around Asia for her work, before resigning to be a stay-at-home mum, writer, part-time lecturer and environmental activist, all in an effort to make up for her ‘evil’ past as a corporate lawyer! Shamini has written many books for children but is best known for her Inspector Singh Investigates series of crime fiction for adults.Sally Heinrich is a freelance illustrator, writer and artist who has illustrated more than twenty books, as well as working for advertising agencies, design studios and government departments. Sally has lived in Singapore, Sydney and Darwin and is now living in Adelaide.

Diary of a Taekwondo Master

By Shamini Flint, Sally Heinrich

Allen & Unwin

Copyright © 2012 Shamini Flint
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-74331-360-2

Contents

MY TAEKWONDO DIARY,
TAEKWONDO LESSON NO. 1,
TAEKWONDO LESSON NO. 2,
TAEKWONDO LESSON NO. 3,
TAEKWONDO LESSON NO. 4,
ROUND 1,
ROUND 2,
ROUND 3,
SUDDEN DEATH ROUND,
ABOUT THE AUTHOR,

CHAPTER 1

MY TAEKWONDO DIARY

Dad wants me to do taekwondo.

I don’t even know what that is! But knowing Dad, I’m sure it’s dangerous.

Actually, I’m hopeless at art.

(My art teacher, Mrs Quill.)

But I don’t care. It will be so wonderful to do something gentle.

For once, I won’t get hurt.

Unless someone stabs me with a paintbrush. And that’s unlikely to happen. I hope.

(Mum loves anything I do for her, even if it’s rubbish – I wish my teachers were like that.)

I bet Spot likes art too. And Fluffy. They could help me!

My name is Marcus Atkinson. I’m nine years old. And my dad drives me nuts.

Dad never listens … but he always REMEMBERS.

Don’t believe me? I’ll give you examples …

You see? He never listens to anything I say.

But he remembers everything I tell him – even though he never listens! How does that work?

Yeah, right.

Yeah, right.

You see, he remembers things I tell him – but at the wrong time …

JT WAS the class bully.

But now we’re friends because I rescued his kitten when his dad wanted to send it to the RSPCA.

I’m looking after the kitten (Fluffy) until JT improves his marks and is allowed to have him back.

(Continues…)Excerpted from Diary of a Taekwondo Master by Shamini Flint, Sally Heinrich. Copyright © 2012 Shamini Flint. Excerpted by permission of Allen & Unwin.
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