Watch Harry Harrison drawing Jimmy Lee on video!
May 25, 2020 at 3:30 pm | Posted in Harry Harrison, Hong Kong Young Readers Festival 2020, Literary Festivals, Live drawing, Video | Leave a commentTags: Harry Harrison, Hong Kong Young Readers Festival 2020, The Tale of Chester Choi
I’ve just spent the morning with Harry Harrison and my daughter Annabel Brennan Cohen who was videoing Harry’s and my segment in the upcoming Hong Kong Young Reader’s Festival!
Here is Harry drawing Jimmy Lee from The Tale of Chester Choi, where he surfs on the tsunami! Harry is using pen and ink to copy his preliminary pencil sketch onto watercolour paper, using a light box to illuminate the pencil sketch beneath:
And here he is beginning the colouring-in with watercolour paint!
If you want to see much more, including Harry and I talking all about the Chinese Calendar Tales series (with a lot of fun thrown in!), and a Q and A session where you can ask us your own questions, you’ll have to log in to the live session! l’ll let you know exactly when that will be very soon!
And just so you don’t miss any of the fun coming up, make sure you subscribe to this blog by entering your email address in the box at the bottom of the menu to the right – OR you can subscribe to my Funny and Fabulous Newsletter Mailing List by following the instructions here!
Say hello to some happy winners!
May 16, 2020 at 10:29 am | Posted in Asia Society Hong Kong, Challenges and activities | Leave a commentTags: Books about the Chinese Zodiac, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020, The Year of the Rat
A big thank you to the lovely mums and dads who sent in these lovely pictures of some of our Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020 winners! From top left, clockwise, we have Yvonne Yang, winner of the Year 1 to 3 Category, and Dhairya Haria, winner of the Year 4 to 6 Category, holding their Boxed Sets of the Chinese Calendar Tales. Then some lucky Prize Draw winners, Charis Chan with her dad Andrew, Maisy and Mavis Leung, with their signed copies of The Tale of Run Run Rat and beautiful Asia Society Hong Kong publication Once in A Life: Encounters with Nara. I hope you enjoy them!
At last! The results are out in The Rascally Rat Tale Competition!
May 9, 2020 at 12:53 pm | Posted in Arden Anglican School, Beecroft, Australian schools, Challenges and activities, Hong Kong Schools, Shanghai schools, Singapore schools, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Covid competitions for kids, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Rascally Rat Tale Competition, The Year of the Rat
Illustration by Harry Harrison from The Tale of Run Run Rat
Hooray! At last the results in The Rascally Rat Tale Competition have been posted on my Clever Competitions page! Now I know that a lot of you have been doing lots of school work online during the Covid epidemic, so we had fewer entrants than usual, although we still had entries from Hong Kong, Melbourne, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney! They were of a very high standard, so it was difficult choosing the best! I did so using my special spreadsheet, with all the entries anonymised, which you can read more about on the results page.
Congratulations to everyone who put in an entry, and to all the place-winners! Special congratulations to Therese Li of Arden Anglican School in Beecroft, Sydney for placing FIRST in the Year 1 to 3 Category, and to James Bruser Zarin of Shrewsbury International School, Hong Kong, who placed FIRST in the Year 4 to 6 Category. They both win a signed copy of the Chinese Calendar Tale of their choice, as well as a Boxed Set of the Chinese Calendar Tales for their school libraries! Well done! Congratulations also to the English teachers of Arden Anglican School in Beecroft, Sydney whose students write to an exceptionally high standard for their ages!
So go to my Clever Competitions page right away to read the winning stories and enjoy!
Update on the Rascally Rat Tale Competition…
May 7, 2020 at 2:35 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, My dog Mo, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: The Rascally Rat Tale Competition
Here is our little dog Mo, who celebrated his 16th birthday last week, cuddling his favourite toy Daisy Duck! Mo has been very sick for the last couple of days and I’ve been taking him back and forth to the vets for lots of medical appointments. He’s getting good treatment now, and we’re hoping he gets better very soon. But it was very worrying at the time and unfortunately it put a stop to all my work, including judging the Rascally Rat Tale Competition! But please don’t worry – the results are almost completed and will be out shortly!
Almost there…and in the meantime enjoy this poem from a Grade 2 student!
May 5, 2020 at 8:17 am | Posted in Challenges and activities, Hong Kong Schools, Poetry competitions for children, Poetry Workshops for kids, Stamford American School Hong Kong | Leave a commentTags: Introduction to Poetry Workshop, poetry by kids, poetry competitions for kids, Poetry workshops
Well, I’ve almost finished judging The Rascally Rat Tale Competition, and will be posting the results very soon! In the meantime, you can all enjoy this poem from Parker Shapiro, Grade 2, Stamford American School Hong Kong, who took part in my virtual Introduction to Poetry Workshop back in April, and wrote the best poem in the challenge I set his class to complete afterwards. The kids had to complete the poem in perfect rhyme and rhythm in the underlined sections- I think he did a great job, don’t you? And I know we’ll ALL agree with the spell he casts at the end of the poem!
The Magical School Brew
By Parker Shapiro, Grade 2, Stamford American School Hong Kong
Throw into the magic pot
Teachers, admin – all the lot!
Throw your pen into the brew
Throw in all your backpacks too!
Add a dash of markers, red
And teach me to draw instead!
Throw into the magic pot
Teachers, admin – all the lot!
Stir into the steaming soup
Mash it up with some green goop
Don’t forget to add some glue
And the goop gets smelly, ew
Throw into the magic pot
Teachers, admin – all the lot!
While you stir, recite this spell:
Magic,magic, ring a bell
Send the virus to the moon
Let us see our friends at noon
Throw into the magic pot
Teachers, admin – all the lot!
I’m judging the Rascally Rat Tale Competition now – and having such fun!
May 1, 2020 at 5:13 pm | Posted in Challenges and activities, Clever Competitions | Leave a commentTags: Stories about Chinese history for kids, Stories about rats, The Rascally Rat Tale Competition, The Tale of Run Run Rat
Phew! The judging of the Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020 is done and dusted, and now I’m judging my Rascally Rat Tale Competition!! And I’m having so much fun! Thanks to the fabulous writers from Hong Kong, Melbourne, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney for sending in such terrific stories – and for their patience! The results will be out soon!
The Results are out in The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020!
April 28, 2020 at 2:56 pm | Posted in Asia Society Hong Kong, Challenges and activities, Hong Kong events, illustrators, The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020 | Leave a commentTags: Asia Society Hong Kong, Harry Harrison, The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020, The Tale of Run Run Rat, The Year of the Rat
Hooray! The results are out in The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020!
And we’ve had so much fun judging the entries! A grand total of 55 primary school aged kids registered, and we were excited to see so many entries flooding in before the deadline date! The standard was really high too! It’s great to know that so much talent is alive and well today among our amazing young students! Hearty congratulations to all of you who completed this exciting challenge!
Extra congratulations to the Super-Challenge entrants who completed all the challenges, and to the clever kids who took our hint (you must complete at least ONE Special Challenge) and completed more of them to lift their scores!
And huge thanks to Harry Harrison for the use of all his fabulous illustrations from The Chinese Calendar Tales as well as his contribution of our fabulous Mystery Prize for the Super Challenge!
PRIZE WINNERS:
GRAND PRIZE FOR BEST ENTRY:
A Boxed Set of the Chinese Calendar Tales (RRP HK$1199) PLUS Free Family Membership of Asia Society Hong Kong for a year (Value HK$2500)
Grades 1 to 3 Category
Equal first: Clement Leung and Yvonne Yang
Grades 4 to 6 Category
Dhairya Mitesh
PRIZE FOR COMPLETING CHALLENGE:
Congratulations to everyone who completed this Challenge! We think you are brilliant! You will ALL receive FREE STUDENT MEMBERSHIP of Asia Society Hong Kong for a year (Value HK$300). Asia Society HK will be in contact with you shortly.
PRIZE FOR BEST SING! VIDEO:
The best 10 SING! Entries will be invited to perform LIVE at a special event at Asia Society Hong Kong later this year!
Winners: Only 7 entrants were brave enough to undertake this category, so in order of merit, all of them are listed below!
Clement Leung, Dhairya Mitesh, Yvonne Yang, Sofia Graham, Gabrielle Hon, Noelle Lui, and Natalie Hon.
PRIZE DRAW FOR ALL COMPLETED ENTRIES:
The first 10 names drawn from all completed entries will each receive a FREE copy of The Tale of Run Run Rat by Sarah Brennan and Harry Harrison (RRP HK$99), PLUS a free copy of Once in a Life – Encounters with Nara by Asia Society HK Center (RRP HK$280) PLUS free family entry to an Asia Society event to be advised.
Winners: Noelle Lui, Advait Deshmakh, Charis Chan, Mavis Leung, Megumi Yano, Natalie Hon, Kavi Deshmakh, Alina Hsu, Hana Yano, Maisy Leung.
MYSTERY PRIZE FOR BEST SUPER-CHALLENGE ENTRY:
The BEST entry showing completion of ALL 20 CHALLENGES will receive THE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATION OF THE GREAT YEAR OF THE RAT CHALLENGE 2020 above, signed by the artist Harry Harrison and inscribed with the entrant’s name (RRP HK$5000)!
Winner: Sofia Graham
Congratulations once again for taking part in this fabulous Challenge! You can find photos of some of the best entries received in each category here as well as some of the fantastic SING! Videos on our Facebook page.
Hang in there, all you fabulous competition entrants!
April 27, 2020 at 5:09 pm | Posted in Challenges and activities, Clever Competitions, Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020 | Leave a commentTags: A Rascally Rat Tale Competition, Books about the Chinese Zodiac, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020, The Tale of Run Run Rat
Run Run Rat from The Tale of Run Run Rat, illustration by Harry Harrison
Hang in there my friends! We are SO nearly there with the results for two great competitions:
The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020 and my A Rascally Rat Tale Competition!
I promise the results will be published here on my blog REALLY SOON!
Story Reading with Asia Society Hong Kong – The Tale of Run Run Rat!
April 20, 2020 at 3:30 pm | Posted in Asia Society Hong Kong, Video, Year of the Rat | Leave a commentTags: Asia Society Hong Kong, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Run Run Rat, Video story reading
Hooray! You can listen to me reading The Tale of Run Run Rat in this very special story reading for Asia Society Hong Kong here!
Enjoy!
The Rascally Rat Tale Competition ends tonight!
April 17, 2020 at 2:36 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Rascally Rat Tale Competition, The Tale of Run Run Rat
Run Run Rat is racing for the finish line – and so should you be if you’ve been writing your Rascally Rat Tale for my latest Clever Competition! The deadline is midnight tonight so send that story in right away – I can’t wait to read it!
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