Nury Vittachi's most recent book, The Feng Shui Detective, is an excellent book for use in an English reading, English literature or creative writing class for the upper years of secondary school (about ages 14 and above). While an "adult" book, the writing is clear, the story lines are direct and each chapter of about 20 pages can largely be treated as a stand-alone short-story. These combine to make the book easily accessible to teenagers as well as making it easy to teach from, either using the entire book, or just a few chapters.

Unlike most adult books suitable for teaching in secondary school, The Feng Shui Detective takes place in East Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong), with places, props and characters recognisable to Asian students. One of the main characters, Joyce McQuinnie, is a "western" teenager trying to learn to fit in to not just an adult world but also an Asian milieu. CF Wong is an Asian of the older generation making a concerted effort to understand his new protogée. Themes such as responsibility, maturity and respect for other cultures are therefore treated in settings and contexts familiar to both Asian students as well as non-Asian students living in this region.

A Teacher's Guide to the book has been prepared and is may be freely used in the classroom.

The author and Paddyfield.com have combined to create a programme for schools and teachers who wish to use The Feng Shui Detective. Books for classroom use will be offered to schools at specially discounted prices.

And the author himself can teach a class from the book! The class will cover how the author creates characters, context and plot through examples from one of the chapters. This is an excellent opportunity for students to learn about lierature and the craft of writing from one of Hong Kong's most established literary figures.

For enquiries, please contact Paddyfield.com at tel. 2511-4211, or e-mail books@paddyfield.com.