Chinese New Year! Include some mandarin or Cantonese, a new font and preferably keep it light and cheerful. That was the brief. So naturally I thought… Tudor England!

“When Mary Saw Red” is set in 1545 in the school room of the precocious Princess Elizabeth (Bess) and Prince Edward (Ned). Bess has decided to learn Mandarin Chinese, become a Ruist and re-enact the story of Nian for Chinese New Year and Ned is fully on board.

Big sister Princess Mary enters and starts disapproving of everything. Except the ending where Elizabeth accidentally starts a fire out of bamboo canes and fireworks. Ending heresy with fire Mary seems strangely on board with…