Oh what a week that was! And a fun event up ahead!!
February 12, 2023 at 7:31 pm | Posted in Events, Hong Kong events | Leave a commentTags: Bookazine Princes Building, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit
Well, I’m officially EXHAUSTED but so HAPPY! I’ve had the most wonderful week visiting schools in Hong Kong, and am absolutely overwhelmed with the warm welcome back, and the amazing book orders! In fact, there were so many book orders to pack that I haven’t had a moment to post about my visits…and now I’m in Taiwan to visit three more schools!
I’ll be posting as soon as possible with some great photos of each visit. But in the meantime, here’s a fun event you can come along to, just before I fly back to France! I’ll be reading from The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, then my friend Suzanne Younan, who writes the fabulous Green Dragon series, will be launching her latest book, and then we’ll BOTH be teaching you how to make some pop-up animal puppets … which can be rabbits or dragons or monkeys or a bit of them all! How very confusing!
And Harry Harrison will be there too to say hello! He might even have a fabulous colouring-in sheet for you to take home!
I look forward to seeing you there!
You are invited to a Kids4Kids event tomorrow in Hong Kong!
October 6, 2021 at 10:59 pm | Posted in Hong Kong events | Leave a commentTags: Books about Hong Kong history for kids, Kids4Kids, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah, Virtual author visits
If you’d like to take part in a fun virtual event at Kids4Kids tomorrow afternoon at (HK) 5.30pm, just click here to register or scan the QR code! See you there!
Neats beware! There’s a Grot on the loose!
July 30, 2020 at 5:31 pm | Posted in Asia Society Hong Kong, Hong Kong events, Kids4Kids, Story Readings, Young Adventurers Book Club, Zoom visits | Leave a commentTags: A Dirty Story, Asia Society kids events, Grots, Kids4Kids events, Neats, Sarah Brennan and Harry Harrison books for kids, Story readings for kids, Young Adventurers Book Club, Zoom story readings
Yes, I admit it – I’m a GROT!!! And here am I all dressed up and ready to go for my fun reading session for the Young Adventurers Book Club yesterday, hosted by the lovely Fontaine Gibbs, Student Ambassador (who is definitely a Neat!), and co-sponsored by fabulous Hong Kong charity Kids4Kids and my old friends at Asia Society Hong Kong! Over 50 young participants logged in to hear the adventures of the nifty Neats and the dastardly Grots on the Twinkle Downs in the first kids’ book I ever had published, A Dirty Story, illustrated by the fabulous Harry Harrison! If you haven’t read it yet, here’s a little preview of the Neats below – enjoy! Video link coming soon!
Watch our fab session at the HK Young Readers Festival today!
June 10, 2020 at 2:48 pm | Posted in Bookazine Princes Building, Chinese Calendar Tales, Events, Harry Harrison, Hong Kong events, Hong Kong Young Readers Festival 2020, Shatin Junior School, Video, Virtual visits, Zoom visits | Leave a commentTags: Harry Harrison, Hong Kong International Literary Festival, Hong Kong Young Readers Festival 2020, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Run Run Rat
If you just missed Harry Harrison and my fabulous video and Q and A session with the kids of Shatin Junior School Grade 3 today, you can listen here! It was so much fun! You can find out all about why and how we created the Chinese Calendar Tales, from first idea to final Boxed Set! You can even watch Harry as he draws from preliminary sketch to final painting! Thanks to Catherine Platt, director of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, for this fantastic event! And to lovely moderator Julia Kuehn; James Ryan, cub reporter, for his fabulous questions on our video; Annabel Cohen (my daughter!) for the fantastic filming and editing; Bookazine for their brilliant offer of 15% off all the Chinese Calendar Tales this June; Hugh Beames and Karen Middleton of Shatin Junior School; and Joseph, our tech advisor and supporter!!
A fun interview on RTHK3 Radio about my session at the Young Readers’ Festival 2020 tomorrow!
June 9, 2020 at 3:50 pm | Posted in Events, Hong Kong events, Hong Kong Young Readers Festival 2020, interviews, Radio interviews, RTHK3 | Leave a commentTags: Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival, RTHK3, The 123 Show, The Chinese Calendar Tales
Yesterday I had a fun interview with the fabulous Noreen Mir at RTHK Radio 3 on the 123 Show! We talked all about my upcoming session with the HK Virtual Young Readers Festival, including a very funny and frank video of me and Harry Harrison explaining How We Created the Chinese Calendar Tales, and a Q and A session to follow! You can listen to it here!
Follow this link to learn more about the Festival, and to access the live event tomorrow: https://www.festival.org.hk/2020-hong-kong-young-readers-festival-virtual-event/
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.Â
The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020 is coming your way!
February 21, 2020 at 4:44 pm | Posted in Asia Society Hong Kong, Challenges and activities, Hong Kong, Hong Kong events | Leave a commentTags: Asia Society Hong Kong, Chinese Zodiac, The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020, The Tale of Run Run Rat, The Year of the Rat
Are you a primary school student in Hong Kong or mainland China, stuck at home, waiting for schools to reopen in mid-March? Or maybe you live somewhere else, and are lucky enough to be able to go to school right now! Either way, if you love a fun challenge, with lots of great puzzles, pictures and tasks to complete, and with FABULOUS PRIZES, then you’re going to LOVE the GREAT YEAR OF THE RAT CHALLENGE 2020! My friends at Asia Society Hong Kong and I are launching the Challenge on next Monday, 24 January! So make sure you and Mum or Dad visit my blog again on Monday for all the details! Or you can visit my Facebook or Instagram pages! See you then!
Seven big reasons why I love Hong Kong!
February 5, 2020 at 11:21 am | Posted in Chinese New Year, Dragon dance, Hong Kong, Hong Kong events | Leave a commentTags: Banyan Trees, Dragon Dances, Hong Kong, Hong Kong architecture, Hong Kong at Chinese New Year, Reasons why I love Hong Kong, Saikung, The Year of the Rat
For all the recent doom and gloom about viruses and protests, Hong Kong, my home for the last 21 years, is still one of my favourite places in the world! And here are just a few reasons why I ESPECIALLY love Hong Kong at Chinese New Year!
Blue, blue skies above spectacular architecture!
Chinese New Year really is the best time of year in Hong Kong weather-wise, with low humidity and lovely bright days with cool nights – yum! And its buildings are fantastic! Above are just a few that I snapped on a brisk walk from Wanchai into Central the other day!
Flowers, flowers everywhere!
Chinese New Year is the time for spectacular fruit and flower displays at home, in the office, and on every street corner! Above are just a few I spotted on my walk through the city centre!
Extraordinary trees, some literally hanging off the walls!
The city is home to some of the most glorious banyan trees, with their aerial roots and extraordinary root systems making them a unique part of this unique city!
Fabulous decorations in shopping malls!
And in shops…
And in the streets…
And all the excitement of Dragon Dances!
Here’s a short video I took in Saikung village, in the New Territories, where four different teams of dancers, drummers and their followers circulated around the village, spreading good fortune for the New Year! Here you can see a Black Lion entering a small shop, to receive the gift of a lettuce, which it “eats” to ensure the prosperity of the shop for the coming year!
Thank you Bookazine for a fabulous Hong Kong event!
January 21, 2020 at 2:42 pm | Posted in Book signings, Bookazine Princes Building, Chinese New Year, Hong Kong events, Room to Read | Leave a commentTags: Bookazine Princes Building, Boxed Set of Chinese Calendar Tales, Centricity Hong Kong, Room to Read, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Run Run Rat
A big THANK YOU to Bookazine for hosting a fabulous event last Saturday to celebrate the upcoming Year of the Rat – and our wonderful city of Hong Kong – at the beautiful Centricity in Central! A huge bunch of kids, mums and dads came along to hear three fantastic Hong Kong story readings from three fabulous Hong Kong authors, and take part in some fun Chinese New Year activities! They even got to meet Geronimo Stilton!
![IMG_1007[1]](https://sarahbrennanblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/img_10071.jpg)
Of course we had to celebrate the 12th Birthday of The Tale of Run Run Rat, the very first of the Chinese Calendar Tales, which even outsold Harry Potter for 6 weeks in Hong Kong when it was released in 2008! Here I am, above, reading the story to the audience. We had a lot of fun following Run Run from his humble Chinese village all around China to the Olympics Marathon in Beijing!
Then everyone trooped into the activity room to make my rather tricky Rat Mask – I was SO impressed with all the masks the kids made, with a little bit of help from their parents! I think the mums and dads especially had a lot of fun! I’ll be posting details shortly, so you can make the mask too!
After that, Karen Jane Ho and Jessamy Woolley gave two fabulously entertaining story readings – and trips around Hong Kong’s special places – with their beautiful books Emi Takes Hong Kong and Billy the Cavalier and Friends. And then everyone made some gorgeous Chinese New Year decorations…and played Hong Kong Bingo!
Thank you again to Arti and Shonee Mirchandani of Bookazine, their events manager Clemence Robine, and of course Mrs Mirchandani with her steadfast support! Here we are below:
And thank you to all the lovely fans who came up to say hello and get their books signed afterwards!
And last but not least, thank you to my dear friend Jennie Orchard, of my favourite children’s literacy charity Room to Read, who came along to support us all. Here we are below with my beautiful Boxed Set of Chinese Calendar Tales.
We all had a wonderful afternoon!
Happy New Year 2020 – and a fabulous event next Saturday to celebrate Chinese New Year!
January 12, 2020 at 3:06 pm | Posted in Book signings, Bookshop event, Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac, Hong Kong events | Leave a commentTags: Bookazine events, Centricity Hong Kong, Geronimo Stilton, Jane Karen Ho, Jessamy Woolley, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Run Run Rat
A very Happy New Year to you all for 2020! I hope that it’s filled with fun and laughter and wonderful events for all my lovely fans…including this very special Year of the Rat event by my favourite Hong Kong bookshop Bookazine on Saturday 18th January from 2-5pm at a very special venue at Centricity, 2nd Floor, Landmark Chater, Central!
We’ll be celebrating my feisty and ambitious Run Run Rat of course :), with a fun story reading followed by a chance to make your own Rat Mask! Then we’ll be celebrating our beautiful city of Hong Kong with story readings by my fabulous fellow Hong Kong authors Jane Karen Ho and Jessamy Woolley, who will respectively host a CNY decoration-making session and a fun game of Hong Kong Wildlife Bingo!
Not to mention special appearances by the most famous rat in the world, Geronimo Stilton! Wow!
So make sure you book your ticket NOW at this link so you don’t miss out! I can’t wait to see you there!
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