Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog

A Funny and Fabulous Morning at Kowloon Tong School Primary Section!

A big Thank You to wonderful librarian Ada Mok and the teachers and students of Kowloon Tong School, Primary Section, for hosting me this morning in a story reading session to the fabulous Grade 5s and the fantastic Grade 6s to celebrate Book Day! I had a great time introducing my handsome Dark Horse, and signing books in the Music Room afterwards! And thanks also to Alva Wong, Christa Tam and all my old friends at Commercial Press for organising the event. Here are some photos!

Poetry rules at Harrow International!

Warm thanks to Shelagh Green (pictured above), Year 4 teacher at Harrow International, for hosting me this morning when I visited the Grade 4s with my funny and fabulous Introduction to Poetry Workshop!  We had great fun with some heavenly haikus, accurate acrostics, luscious limericks, natty Knock Knocks, clever clerihews and super similes – not to mention lots and lots of alliteration! I look forward to reading some practically perfect poems from the Harrow kids in my next Poem Competition!

If you love wild animals….

Here I am with my lovely Aussie author friend Jan Latta when we were both in Shanghai recently, photographed on the balcony of the beautiful M on the Bund Restaurant which hosts Shanghai’s annual International Literary Festival. Jan is the author and photographer of the magnificent True to Life Animal series for children, all about endangered species, and I LOVE her books! Here is a fabulous article which just appeared in an Australian magazine called Digital Photography – click on the link to see some fantastic photos of wild animals – including cheetahs and elephants and a baby orangutan – and to read all about her adventures!

Jan Latta article digital photo JPEG

A fabulous Gallop at Renaissance College Hong Kong!

The Dark Horse and I galloped in to Renaissance College for a fabulous day of story readings yesterday with the whole of primary school – but my Dark Horse had to take a little break as Chester Choi visited the little ones! Thanks to my lovely hosts, librarians Shirley Chan (left) and Andrea Walker (right) –  it was wonderful to see you again and thank you for the warm welcome! And here is just a snippet of my presentation in one of the sessions – thank you Jamie Schmitz for posting on Youtube!

Hellooo Glenealy School!

Hello all you fabulous kids from Glenealy School! I had such fun visiting today! It was great to introduce the big kids to my new Dark Horse and the little kids to my very vain Pin Yin Panda! Big thanks to the lovely Trish Oliver and her wonderful assistant Hardeep for such a warm welcome! I even had the pleasure of meeting three of the contestants in my latest Clever Competition – Giselle Choi (in blue), Joaquin Aquino (in Red) , and talented Madhura Tilve (in yellow) who placed Second in the Grade 4 to 6 Section of my competition!

Just 3 days left in my Handsome Horse Poem Competition!

HARUMPH! There are just 3 days left to get your poems into my Handsome Horse Poem Competition! And the competition is shaping up to be the best ever! We’ve had entries from the UK, Australia, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong! So find all the information you need on the Clever Competitions tab above, and make sure you send your entry to me at enquiries@auspicioustimes.com before 12 midnight GST on the 28th March – you’ve got to be in it to win it!!

Goodbye Shanghai!

Well I’m back home in Hong Kong again – and what a fabulous fortnight I had in Shanghai! I visited 8 fantastic schools, as well as my morning session at the Shanghai International Literary Festival – and it was all just wonderful!  Thanks to all the kids, teachers, mums, dads and writers I met – it was magic!

Shanghai International Literary Festival:

Here are some photos of my session on Saturday 15th March at the Shanghai International Literary Festival – it was fantastic fun!

Starbugs Academy, Shanghai:

Then on Sunday afternoon I spent a wonderful hour with the kids, mums and dads at Starbugs Academy, a fantastic after-school club for local Shanghai children who are learning English by – you guessed it – reading lots and lots and lots of English language children’s books! It’s such a great idea, and the kids speak fabulous English! Here I am with my friend Qing Yang, founder of the Academy, during a session and with one of my fans afterwards!

British International School, Pudong Campus:

Here is the lovely Sally Scrymgeour, Head of Literacy Year 3 teacher at British International School Shanghai, Pudong campus, who was my host when I visited on Monday 17th March! And also pictured, some gorgeous BISS kids, as well as one of our reading sessions.

Britannica International School:

On Tuesday I visited the beautiful new, ultra-modern Britannica International School, where KS3 English teacher Helen Mun, hosted me to a lovely morning of story readings with the kids. Here is a wonderfully Horsey Door to a classroom; then introducing the little kids to Pin Yin Panda and a Chinese New Year’s Feast; and some of my lovely fans!

Shanghai American School, Pudong Campus:

And here I am with the fabulous Kimbra Power, a fellow Tasmanian, and primary librarian at Shanghai American School Pudong which I visited on Wednesday 19th March, and her team, Joji and Stella! Take a look at the wild and wacky Dr Seuss paintings on the sofa, drawn by the upper school artists! Below is Kimbra’s lovely daughter Hannah, and the book display table!

YK Pao School, Shanghai:

And last but not least, I spent a fabulous final two days with the inspiring teachers and kids of  YK Pao School in Shanghai! On our first day together, we had a lot of fun with story readings. And on our second day, I met the kids personally with a fabulous, huge book signing! Here I am with some lovely fans, and Jon Banks, my charming host, standing behind!

Halloooo Shanghai!

Hello to all my friends, old and new, in the fabulous city of Shanghai! I’ve been here since Monday, visiting some fantastic schools!

Shanghai Singapore International School:

On Tuesday, my Dark Horse and I visited the kids and teachers of SSIS! Huge thanks to the lovely Kateryna Khozakova for inviting me! Here are some photos!  

Yew Chung International School, Puxi campus:

Then on Thursday, we galloped in to YCIS Puxi, with two fun story readings and two Writing a Riveting Story workshops! Warm thanks to my dear friend Heather Lockett and her fantastic team for a great welcome! Here I am with Heather (in black and white); with Ms Paula Chen, YCIS librarian, who is also a wonderful artist who reproduced my Rhonda Rabbit on the door of the library for Book Week; with the fabulous kids of Grade 6 in my Writing a Riveting Story Workshop; with my stuffed toys, especially Horace the Horse; with some lovely fans, and last but not least, my friend and fellow author Jan Latta who was also visiting the school that day!

Shanghai Community International School, Hongqiao campus:

Today we spent a happy Friday with the kids of SCIS Hongqiao and their terrific primary librarian Carole Mondin, with four funny story readings featuring Pin Yin Panda and my handsome Dark Horse! Here are some photos:

Then tomorrow I’ll be appearing at the Shanghai International Literary Festival at 10am at M on the Bund – I can’t wait! I’ll see you all there!

Four funny and fabulous sessions at The Peak School!

Pin Yin Panda from the misty Wolong Valley felt quite at home on the misty Peak today when I visited The Peak School with my Chinese Calendar Tales! The gorgeous Grade 1s and 2s met my vain but loveable Panda and heard all about how the animals raced to Lord Buddha’s Party and into the Chinese Zodiac when I read them my Tale of Pin Yin Panda. Then the clever kids of Grades 3 to 6 had a fascinating history lesson learning how the Silk Road started as I read them my new Tale of a Dark Horse! We had a lot of fun whinnying, neighing and HARUMPH-ing too! Warm thanks to wonderful librarian Liz Mills-Campbell for hosting me today, and to all the staff and students who made me feel so welcome! I hope to see lots of entries from you all in my Clever Competition!