Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog

Now here’s a tree to dream under…

Today I received the loveliest photos from Lexy Gillies’ mum, after I wrote to let her know that Lexy had come Third in the Grade 4 to 6 Category of my Ode to My Favourite Tree Competition. Lexy wrote a beautiful poem about her Weeping Birch tree – and here it is! You can just see Lexy hiding in its branches (on the left) and the poem which Lexy wrote on the right! What a perfect place to hang a poem!

The results are out in the Ode to My Favourite Tree Competition!

Thank you so much for all your fantastic entries in my Ode to My Favourite Tree Competition! I’ve had a fabulous time reading them all! You all seem to love trees just as much as I do, and it was such a treat to read about your favourites! There were  fruit trees like apple, mango, cherry and lemon; old classics like ash, oak, pine, willow and weeping birch; Asian trees like palms, banyans and Bonsai trees; and some old Aussie favourites, like  Jacarandahs, gum trees and the ancient Wollombi Pine. There was even a family tree! And the poems themselves were just as diverse, with everything from acrostics, rhyming couplets, diamond poems, free verse and even a limerick! This time the entries came from a whopping 20 schools in 6 different cities on 4 different continents! Go to my Clever Competitions page above right away to read the winning entries!

Hang in there!

Hello all you fabulous writers who entered my Ode to my Favourite Tree Poetry Competition – I’m still judging, and will let you know who the winners are as soon as I can this week! So please be patient!

Malala is joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2014!

Fantastic news!! 17 year old Malala Yousafzai has just been awarded joint winner of the famous Nobel Peace Prize! And she’s the youngest ever recipient of the Prize! If you scroll down my blog you will remember that Malala is my favourite hero, for her courageous fight for the rights of girls to be educated in her home country Pakistan. After being shot and nearly killed by the Taliban she was flown to Birmingham in the UK for treatment, and has stayed there ever since, as it is too dangerous for her to return to her beloved Swat Valley. But she is continuing the fight for ALL children, EVERYWHERE to have a proper education. She was in the middle of a chemistry class at school when she was told about her prize! Click here to hear this extraordinary girl talk about it, and why not ask Mum and Dad to listen too! http://www.malala.org/

Last day today!!

If you want to enter the Ode to My Favourite Tree poetry competition you’d better send your poem in today! All the rules and details are on my Clever Competitions page above. Quick sticks!!

Hellooo Think International School!

A big hello to all the terrific kids of Think International School, where I spent a very happy day today! We had story readings, with Pin Yin Panda meeting the Grade 1s, Temujin the Tiger roaring at the Grade 2s and my noble Dark Horse galloping in to see the Grade 3s and 5s. And then the clever Grade 4s and Grade 7s created a very exciting story plan involving aliens invading Clearwater Bay Beach on a hot summer day 100 years from now, in my Nailing the Narrative Curve Workshop! We had a lot of fun! Thanks so much to Melanie Bates for inviting me and to librarian Leanne Richardson (below) for looking after me so well! And kids – remember to read lots and lots of books – it’s health food for the brain!

Just 5 more days to go to get your entry in!

Quick sticks! You’ve got just 5 more days to get your entry into my latest writing competition: An Ode to my Favourite Tree! So if you haven’t sent yours in yet, you’d better get a move on! See my Clever Competitions page above for all the rules and information!

Three fabulous writing workshops at Discovery College!

I had a fantastic day yesterday with the Grade 4s to Grade 6s of Discovery College! First I gave them a talk about story planning to include all the essential elements of a great story, with a fun example to demonstrate my point! The Grade 4s got my Evil Vacuum Cleaner Mystery; the Grade 5s heard my Dog Kidnapped by Aliens Adventure; and the LUCKY Grade 6s got my beautiful, touching Romance about two of their class mates :)! Then it was all systems go as I put the kids on a stopwatch to produce a Story Plan covering all the bases! Some kids even finished a fabulous First Draft in the time available! Well done all of you! Remember that Story Plans are your best friends when it comes to Writing a Riveting Story! And big thanks to Leanne Sercombe, Information Literacy Coordinator and PYP Teacher Librarian, for inviting me!

A Parents’ Workshop at Green Oasis School, Shenzhen!

Thank you to Head of Primary Anne Marie Stock (left) for a lovely warm welcome at Green Oasis School in Shenzhen, where I spoke to a big crowd of concerned parents about the importance of reading books in the digital age, and how to turn their kids into enthusiastic Book Worms! Afterwards I had the chance to sign lots of books for the kids – here I am with Lydia above! And a warm hello to Oscar too – sadly our photo together didn’t turn out :(!

The first entry in my Clever Competition from the USA!

A big hello to Lillian Lee at Greenlake Elementary School in Washington State, USA! Lillian is officially the first competitor to enter my Clever Competitions from the United States of America! She has written a really beautiful poem about her favourite tree – we’ll see how she goes when the competition closes!

And in the meantime – if you haven’t started writing your poem, you’d better start now! There are just 16 more days to get your entry in! Go to the Clever Competitions page above to see all the details!