Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog

Hop Hop Hooray! The competition deadline has been extended!

For all you tardy bunnies out there, it’s your lucky day! I’ve just flown down to Shanghai and I’m sooooooo busy this  next week visiting schools and appearing at the Shanghai International Literary Festival that I won’t have a minute to judge my Clever Competition! So I’ve decided to extend the deadline for all your entries into my Rabbit Poem competition till Friday 11th March. If you haven’t entered  yet, now’s your chance! Sharpen those wits,words and pencils and get hopping!

And if you’re living in Shanghai and would like to come and see me read The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, here’s the link to the Festival event at M on the Bund on Saturday 5th March at 10am!

 http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/shanghai/events/82128/

Hello again Beijing!

 I’m back in Rhonda Rabbit’s old hunting grounds in the north of China, just round the corner from the Forbidden Palace (where many a mighty Emperor ruled), and not too far from the Great Wall of China either! Rhonda’s on the look out for some tasty bak choi, while I on the other hand am doing an event at the Capital Literary Festival!

If you’re living in Beijing, come and hear me read Rhonda’s story at Capital M tomorrow (Sunday) morning at 11am! Here’s the link for the event:

 http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/events/82211/

Rhonda Rabbit bounces into Oxford!

Here’s a photo I’ve just received from Tom Osman, Children’s Department manager at Blackwells famous bookshop in Oxford in the UK – and Rhonda’s in the middle of the table!

Bunnies, bunnies and more bunnies…

Bunnies definitely rule in the Year of the Rabbit. So this month, my Brilliant Book is possibly the most famous book about rabbits ever written! Hop right away to my Brilliant Books page to find out all about it, then make sure you bounce to my Amazing Authors page to read about the grand old man who wrote the book, which seven publishers rejected before it was eventually printed, winning the Carnegie Medal in its very first year, then selling over 1 million copies within the next two years!

Taiwan kids have now entered the fray!

The Rabbit Poem Competition is hotting up, with entries from Hong Kong, Singapore, London and now Taiwan! Hello all you clever kids at Morrison Academy Kaohsiung in Taiwan – welcome to my blog and to my monthly Clever Competition! I look forward to receiving lots of entries in my Competitions in the months to come!

The Dog Blog returns…with a poem about Rabbits!

Woof! It’ s me, Bobby,your favourite Doggy Bard! With only 11 days to go to enter a poem into my mum’s Clever Competition for February, I thought it was about time I penned a poem of my own! Now I have to admit that this time it was easy…because Rabbits are pretty much my favourite subject! Here’s a photo of me with Rulin Rabbit to prove it!!

And here’s my poem:

I LOVE RABBITS!

 I love rabbits, big or small;

I love them short, I love them tall;

 I love them when they’re having fun

And playing in the morning sun;

I love them when they’re fast asleep

And snuggled in a fluffy heap;

 I love them plump, I love them fat,

Or fit and skinny, come to that;

I love them cute and quiet and shy;

I love them smart and fast and sly.

 I love them wild, I love them funny

In fact, I love all kinds of bunny…

But most of all, I love them hot

And tasty in my dinner pot!

 Bobby Brennan

Now if I can write a poem about a bunny, so can you! So get writing and send that entry in!

WOOOOFFFF!

Happy Spring Lantern Festival!

 It’s the fifteenth day of the new Chinese Year…which means that today is the Spring Lantern Festival, the last day of Chinese New Year celebrations! This colourful festival dates back 2000 years to the Han Dynasty, when Buddhism was first introduced to China, and the monks lit lanterns on the 15th day of Chinese New Year to honour Buddha. Today, in Chinese cities everywhere – including Hong Kong – there are spectacular lantern displays, with lanterns in every shape and colour! Apart from the gorgeous traditional red hanging lanterns, there are lanterns shaped as flowers, fish, dragons, rabbits (of course!), even famous Emperors and heroes and heroines of Chinese folklore. There are even lanterns shaped as buildings! Tonight there will be riddle-guessing (where riddles will be written on small pieces of paper and stuck to the lanterns) and fabulous fireworks displays, and everyone will eat delicious sticky rice balls stuffed with sweet bean paste! It’s a great way to say goodbye to Chinese New Year and hello to Spring! Some people even call the Spring Lantern Festival the “Chinese Valentines Day” – so watch out! Someone you like might give you a kiss!

Home to Hong Kong!

Bye bye England and hello again Hong Kong! After two wonderful weeks visiting schools, shops and my great new UK distributor in London, I’m back home in Hong Kong with my family and of course my dog Bobby! Life’s feeling pretty good! So good that a nice bright and shiny new Wicked Word is in order! So take a look at my Wicked Word page for a word that describes pretty much how I’m feeling at the moment!

Rhonda and her Chinese Calendar Tale buddies are in UK bookshops now!

Foyles, Blackwells, Daunts and Waterstones are just some of the famous UK bookstores where Rhonda, Temujin, Oswald, Run Run and Chester Choi are now sitting on the shelves! Here I am in the famous Blackwells Bookshop in Charing Cross Road, London with a wonderful display of all my books!

TASIS was TERRIFIC!

Rhonda Rabbit and I bounced into TASIS The American School in England in the depths of the beautiful Surrey countryside for two days this week, and what fun we had celebrating Chinese New Year! The visit kicked off with an assembly including a very exciting lion dance from the Nam Yang dance company, followed by readings to the Kindies and Grades 1 and 2, then on Thursday some great workshops on writing and publishing with Grades 4 to 6 and even a reading with the little Pre-Kindies! Thanks so much to the wonderful Jordan Kaminsky, Lower School librarian, for his generous and enthusiastic support, to the dedicated staff and the fabulous kids of TASIS School! Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Here’s the Lion Dance!

And here I am with the lovely kindy kids….

And the great Grade 4 kids!