Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog

Dalmatians in peril at Methodist Ladies College!

    
Oh dear! Cruella Deville (aka Head of Junior Library Tracey Ricchini) was capturing dalmatian puppies in a red string bag at Methodist Ladies College on Friday, with the assistance of Perdita (aka Library Technician Pam) – and all in honour of Costume Day for Book Week! But Miss Pink from A Dirty Story (below left) was there to save the day, together with a bevvy of Bookbugs! Thanks Tracey, Pam and the fabulous staff and students of MLC for a terrific day!

A Grand Gallop at Geelong Grammar Junior School in Toorak!

I had such a great day today at Geelong Grammar Junior School in Toorak, visiting everyone from the adorable Kindies to the fabulous Grade 4s! The littlest ones met my child-eating dragon in The Tale of Chester Choi, while the Grade Ones had fun meeting all the Chinese Zodiac animals in The Tale of Pin Yin Panda. The Grade 4s learned all about How to Write a Riveting Story, and finally the Grade 3s unscrambled limericks, identified haikus and even helped write a rhyming poem in my Introduction to Poetry Workshop! Warm thanks to teacher librarian Fiona O’Rourke for inviting me and looking after me so well, library technician Lyn Pool for taking me out for a delicious lunch, and Harrison who won a Dark Horse book for asking the best, most perspicacious question! I look forward to seeing dozens of Geelong Grammar entries in my Favourite Tree Poem Competition ! See all the details on the Clever Competitions page above!

Meet a Clever Competition Place Winner from Sydney!

Meet Chelsea Parker-Burton, talented writer and Third Place Winner in the Grade 4 to 6 Section of my Handsome Horse Poem Competition earlier this year! I had the great pleasure of meeting Chelsea yesterday in person at her school Kambala! As you can see, Chelsea is particularly fond of horses which perhaps explains why her poem was particularly good! You can read Chelsea’s poem, together with all the other winning entries, by clicking the Handsome Horse Poem tab on the Clever Competitions page at the right!

And if you want to be a Competition Winner yourself, why not enter my new Favourite Tree Poem Competition! See all the details on the Clever Competition page above!

A Big Hello to Melbourne!

I’ve just arrived in Melbourne for Book Week and I’m so excited to be visiting three fabulous schools here! Tomorrow I’ll be visiting Geelong Grammar Junior School in Toorak; on Friday I’ll see my friends at Methodist Ladies College, then next Monday I’ll be visiting St Joseph’s Malvern for the first time! See you all soon!

The Dark Horse visits Kambala!

My handsome Dark Horse and I galloped into Kambala in Rose Bay, Sydney today to visit the Grade 3 girls for a fantastic story session, full of all the mystery and history of the Silk Road! Thanks to lovely librarian Jo Laretive for having me again – it was a treat!

Helloooo Chatswood Primary School!

Today was a VERY rainy Monday in Sydney! It was also fabulous fun, as I visited Chatswood Primary School and introduced all the kids to my Chinese Calendar Tales! The Kindies and Grade 1s met Chester Choi the child-eating dragon with a soft heart; the Grade 2s met my naughty and very vain Pin Yin Panda; and the Grade 3s, 4s, 5s and 6s learned all about How to Write a Really Riveting Story! A big thank you to the lovely Ali Ryan for hosting me today, and to the kids and teachers who were so welcoming and attentive!

A Fun Friday at Chatswood Library and Killara Public School!

Friday was full of fabulous fun when I visited Chatswood Library in the morning to meet some lovely Year 5 and Year 6 students and teachers from Our Lady of Dolours School. It was great to share the fabulous Chinese history behind the Silk Road, and my Tale of a Dark Horse! 

In the afternoon, I visited Killara Public School with my Tale of Pin Yin Panda and met just about everybody, including star librarian Mitchell Stone, and Rex the Crocodile, seen above left having a bit of a ….chat….with Chester Choi the Dragon! 

Thank you to Wendy Aouad (above left) who was my very kind minder for the day! And an even bigger thank you to Scott Whitmont, owner of the famous Lindfield Bookshop and Children’s Manager Sarah Griffiths (above right) who arranged my visits – I had a lot of fun bringing some fascinating Chinese history and folklore to the kids of North Sydney!

Two fabulous Sydney schools and one terrific library today!

Well that was a busy day today in Lindfield and Gordon! In the morning I visited the gorgeous Grade 1s and 2s at Highfield Prep School and introduced them to my vain Pin Yin Panda and the Chinese Zodiac! Here I am with lovely librarian Cath Parker and some of the kids!

Then it was off to Lindfield East Public School to introduce my Chinese Calendar Tales to a hall-ful of lovely kids from Years 2 and 3. We had a lot of fun with Pin Yin Panda! Thank you so much Pam Multhorpe (below) for hosting me!

Last of all I visited Ku-Ring-Gai Library at Gordon, where I met some lovely local kids and their mums and dads. A big thank you to Rebecca who hosted me, especially for the beautiful flowers!

Last but certainly not least, thank you to Margaret Knight of Lindfield Books who looked after me all day – that was fun!

Hello Sydney!

Hello to all you lucky Sydney kids! I’ve just arrived for Book Week and will be visiting 5 wonderful schools (HIghfields Prep, Lindfield East Public School, Killara Public School, Chatsworth Public School and Kambala) and 2 super libraries (Ku-Ring-Gai and Chatswood) over the next week! I can’t wait to meet you all!

My Brand New Clever Competition has just commenced!

Don’t you just LOVE trees? Of course, they are essential to our lives here on Planet Earth – without them, we wouldn’t be able to breathe! But they are also beautiful, and graceful, and full of Nature’s wisdom! When I was a child in Tasmania, we had a wonderful cubby house in an old tree, where my sisters and brother and I spent many happy hours playing house! As a student at University in Brisbane, I used to hug a big old gum tree in a park near our home. It was so reassuring to know that, no matter how stressful my studies or close my exams, this big old tree would still be there in a hundred years time. And even now, as an adult, I love sitting under trees to read a book or to think of ideas for my stories – or even just to have a snooze – though as we live in an apartment block without a garden, that’s usually when we’re away on holidays! Somehow, trees are so comfortable and kind.

So I’ve decided that it’s high time we had a competition devoted to these gentle green giants! This time, I want you to write me a poem about your favourite tree! It can be any kind of poem, whether that’s a rhyming ballad, an acrostic, a haiku, free verse, even a limerick! The deadline is Friday 10th October, so why not go and sit under a tree and start writing?! See my Clever Competitions page above for all the information and rules!