Gulangyu: The Earth Story

Join our heroine, Xiao Rui, and her friends Na Na the parrot and Henry the baby dragon on a magical, musical adventure to learn about conservation and save the planet. The book tells the story of how children can make a difference in the quest to save the planet through reducing, reusing, and recycling.

When Xiao Rui discovers that her home, Gulangyu (an island off the coast of southeastern China and a UNESCO Heritage Site) is in danger from a gigantic wave that has been caused by global climate change, she is tasked by Riyanshi, the Earth Fairy to undertake an epic journey to stop the wave and learn how she and other children can stop global warming from destroying the planet.

In the Gulangyu story, Xiao Rui and her companions travel to the Amazon rainforest, icebergs in Greenland, solar farms floating in the lake that used to be a coal mine, and landfills where scientists perform research where they see the effects of climate change up-close and personal.

Gulangyu is a great opportunity for parents and teachers to start a conversation with even their youngest learners about their own carbon footprint and how they can impact stopping climate change. Conservation has never been as important as it is now, so help kids understand how they can start saving the planet.

Shirley is a versatile and award-winning composer, songwriter, children's book author and musician. She founded Happy Diamond Music Studio in 2011.

Shirley started piano lessons at the age of 4 and won numerous awards in England, Asia, and the USA. She went on to study orchestration, film scoring and music production with Emmy and Grammy Award Winners at UCLA. She now writes a music column for an online publication and is also a contributor for Africa Geographic. All scripts, music, and lyric produced by Happy Diamond are created by Shirley.

Shirley is an environmentalist. She hopes her music and stories can help to educate young children about the importance of conservation.

Shirley is also an accomplished bassist. Her all-girl band So What's first single "War Monkey" topped #1 on the Hong Kong Indie Music Chart. She performed her own song "Under the Blue Sky" on Chinese Central Television. In Nov 2008, Shirley became the first female bassist to perform at the Chinese National Indoor Olympic Stadium

Shirley's song “Hope” won 2nd runner-up at the CASH songwriting competition. She performed her symphonic work “Happy Diamond” with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. In November 2011, Shirley was one of the five finalists for the "Golden Sail Music Awards" - "Serious Music Category". In 2012, Shirley's composition "Voor Robert" won the best "Bandstand" music for a composition competition in London, England. In 2014 and 2015, her apps “Kakamega: The Rainforest Story” and “Migalolo: The Ocean Musical” reached #11 and #4 worldwide on the iOS book chart. In 2017, "Miniwalla: The Forest Story" was nominated for Best App Store listing in Germany at the Growth Awards. In 2019, Shirley's "Now or Never" theme song won the Silver Medal at the Global Music Awards.