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!
Time’s Up! And the judging begins…
May 18, 2019 at 1:01 pm | Posted in Beijing Schools, Chicago schools, Clever Competitions, Hong Kong Schools, Melbourne schools, Shanghai schools, Sydney schools | Leave a commentTags: Primary School writing competition, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Practically Perfect Pig Tale Competition, Writing Competitions for Kids
Time’s up in my Practically Perfect Pig Tale Competition, and it’s time to start judging your fabulous entries! I’ve had over 50 magnificent entries from schools in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Melbourne, Sydney and Chicago – so it might take me a little bit of time!
So please be patient, all you clever writers out there, and Ping Pong Pig and I will be singing out the results as soon as we can!
Two faraway fans!
January 20, 2019 at 2:42 pm | Posted in Fabulous fans!, Shanghai schools | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, The Year of the Pig, The Year of the Rabbit
I was so happy to hear this week from two of my lovely fans from far away! To the left is Renzo, dressed as Rhonda Rabbit for Book Week at the International School of Panama in Central America – fabulous costume Renzo! I trust that you’re eating all your greens! And to the right is Zara from Texas in the United States with my latest book The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, and the rest of the Chinese Calendar Tales set! Zara met me many years ago at her school in Shanghai! Warm thanks to their dad Luis and mum Helen respectively for sending me these fabulous photos! A very early, happy Year of the Pig to you all!
A wonderful visit to my friends at WISS!
March 21, 2017 at 6:45 pm | Posted in School visits, Shanghai schools, Western International School of Shanghai | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, How to Write a Riveting Story, The Tale of Chester Choi
My last day in Shanghai was spent with my old friends at Western International School Shanghai! Here I am with my lovely friend, primary librarian Isolde Rosevear, who hosted me to a lovely day with the Grade 1s and Grade 5s! The Grade 1s and I had huge fun learning about Chinese dragons, with a reading of The Tale of Chester Choi, and the Grade 5s and I explored all the time-honoured rules about How to Write a Riveting Story. It was such a lovely, welcoming, warm day, and a fitting end to a really marvellous adventure in Shanghai!
A warm return to NAIS Pudong!
March 21, 2017 at 4:21 pm | Posted in China photos, NAIS Pudong, Shanghai schools | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese history, Chinese Zodiac, Poetry workshops, Story Readings, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
My Shanghai adventure started with a full-on, fun day at Nord Anglia International School, Pudong, where I was expertly hosted by the lovely Kym McCullough, librarian and fellow-Aussie! Here we are in the beautiful lobby of this outstanding school! The Year 2s met my feisty Pin Yin Panda and revised the order of all the animals in the Chinese Zodiac; the Year 3s heard my fabulous new Chinese Calendar Tale, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster, and learned some fascinating modern Chinese history, while the Year 4s and Year 5s both did my fun Poetry Workshop! We all had a ball!
Rickshaw Rooster is flying home – to Shanghai!
March 15, 2017 at 6:17 am | Posted in children's literacy, China photos, Shanghai schools | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese culture for kids, Chinese history for kids, Chinese Zodiac, Shanghai International Literary Festival, The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster
Yippee! Rickshaw Rooster and I are flying to Shanghai today for 3 fabulous school visits and a special appearance on The Bund!! Which of course is where that feisty rooster runs THAT race!! I can’t wait to see my old friends in Shanghai – and to make some new ones too! – and to see my lovely fans at the Shanghai International Literary Festival at 10am at M on the Bund on Sunday!
The Tale of Rickshaw Rooster is my homage to a city that I love, that has made me very welcome over the past 9 years, and my homage also to its remarkable history that made it The Paris of the East!
And if you haven’t already booked for my session at the SILF, here’s the link! http://www.m-restaurantgroup.com/event/sarah-brennan-rickshaw-the-rooster-childrens-session/
Do make sure you see some of the other exciting sessions too – it’s a fantastic opportunity to meet authors from around the world, for both adults and children, and to hear them talk in person about their work. Not to mention having your books signed by the authors themselves!!
See you soon, Shanghai, with a great big COCKADOODLE-DOOOOO!
Thank you NACIS for a fabulous day!
November 9, 2016 at 12:21 pm | Posted in Chinese Calendar Tales, Shanghai schools, Story Readings, workshops | Leave a commentTags: NACIS Shanghai, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda
Big thanks to librarian Julie Zhu (pictured with me above top right), Head of Primary Charlotte Moore, and all the other wonderful staff and students of Nord Anglia Chinese International School in Shanghai, for a great day yesterday! I hugely enjoyed meeting you all, and introducing you to my Chinese Calendar Tales and my Dirty Stories! We had story readings of The Tale of Pin Yin Panda and The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, then two fabulous workshops with Grade 5 and Grade 6, discovering How to Write a Riveting Story. And then I met lots of lovely students to sign their books – with over 400 books sold!! A very warm thank you to the staff who helped to make the visit such a success. I look forward to meeting you all again next year!
Ming Kee Monkey creates mischief at WISS!
November 7, 2016 at 9:05 pm | Posted in Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, children's literacy, Chinese Calendar Tales, School visits, Shanghai schools | Leave a commentTags: Chinese culture, Chinese history, competitions, Halloween, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey
Today Ming Kee Monkey and I – and all the other Chinese Calendar Tales beasties – had a fabulous day at Western International School Shanghai! We had three fun story readings, where everyone from the Grade Ones to the Grade Fives heard The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey and all the scrumptious history behind it! Here I am above with my lovely hosts, Head of Libraries Fiona Collins on the right, and Primary Librarian Isolde Rosevear on the left, who looked after me beautifully all day! I can’t wait to read all the WISS entries in my Horribly Hilarious Halloween story competition!
Thank you Wellington College International Shanghai!
November 6, 2016 at 7:54 pm | Posted in Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Chinese Calendar Tales, Shanghai schools | Leave a commentTags: Wellington College International Shanghai
A big thank you to the wonderful Pippa Jacobi and her assistant Bo Bo for making me so welcome at Wellington College International on Thursday. I had a great time introducing the kids to my Chinese Calendar Tales characters (including my stuffed toys with the bears in disguise!) in 3 fabulous story readings. I hope to see you all again soon! Photos to come!
Four funny and fabulous sessions at BISS Puxi!
November 1, 2016 at 8:12 pm | Posted in Books about Chinese Zodiac, Chinese Calendar Tales, Shanghai schools, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: BISS Puxi, The Tale of a Dark Horse, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda
Warm thanks to my friend Liz Wood at BISS Puxi who hosted me today in four fun Chinese Calendar Tales sessions with the Grade Ones, Grade Twos, Grade Fours and Grade Fives! The Grade Ones met my hungry Chinese dragon in The Tale of Chester Choi; the Grade Twos learned all about the Legend of Lord Buddha’s Race and why pandas aren’t in the Chinese Zodiac when I read them The Tale of Pin Yin Panda; and the Grade Fours and Fives took an exciting trip along the Silk Road with The Tale of A Dark Horse! We all had a lot of fun, and learned some fantastic Chinese history and folklore along the way! See you all again soon!
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