Two wonderful days at St Margaret’s Anglican School in Brisbane!
March 6, 2019 at 11:52 am | Posted in Brisbane schools, St Margaret's Anglican School Brisbane, Story Readings, Writing competitions for kids, writing workshops for children | Leave a commentTags: St Margaret's Anglican Girls' School, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig
What a lovely two days I’ve just had with the gorgeous girls (and some boys) and teachers of St Margaret’s Primary and Pre-Prep this week! I met everyone from the cute little Pre-Preps to the savvy Grade 6s, and we had everything from story-readings of my Chinese Calendar Tales (The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda and The Tale of Ping Pong Pig) with all their juicy Chinese history and folklore thrown in, to workshops and talks about How to Write a Riveting Story, How to Become a Great Writer in the Digital Age, Books are a Brain’s Best Friend, and History is Geography! I even spoke at a big assembly of the Grade 4s to 6s about How I Became an Author and Publisher – including all the life-skills I learned along the way! Then at school pickup time I met some lovely parents when they purchased my books!
Thank you, everybody, for making me feel so welcome and for engaging so intently in all the sessions! It was a treat to work with you all! And do make sure that you click on my Clever Competitions link here for details of my latest writing competition for primary school kids – I hope to see lots of fabulous entries from the St Margaret’s girls!
Finally, warmest thanks to some very special staff members who looked after me so kindly throughout: Primary Principal Angela Drysdale (above and below centre), Head of Planning and Organisation – Primary Ms Mary Surtees (above and below left); librarian Mrs Donna Jackson (to my second left above) and Administration Assistant Miss Elizabeth Hook (to my far left above). I had so much fun spending time with you all!
More photos to come! In the meantime, meet the dragon mascot of St Margaret’s – in tile above and in textile below!
It’s time for a Practically Perfect Pig Tale Competition!
February 17, 2019 at 1:14 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
It’s the Year of the Pig – and high time for another of my international story writing competitions for primary school aged kids!
Now we all know that Ping Pong Pig is a practically perfect pig – she’s kind and giving, she works very hard, and she likes to help people! She’s also a very good little actress, as she escapes the Minister of Most Important Things dressed in the disguise of all those professions Pig People are good at! Above all she loves stories about pigs! So in this new story competition, I need you to tell me an exciting adventure, a puzzling mystery…or even a touching romance about a Practically Perfect Pig!
Any child attending primary school, including home-schooled children of primary school age, anywhere in the world can enter! There will be two separate categories for Grades One to Three, and Grade Four to Six, so even the little ones can join in!
This time the First Prize in each of the two Categories will be ONE COMPLETE BOXED SET OF MY CHINESE CALENDAR TALES worth RRP HK$1299!!! Second and Third Place-Getters will each receive a signed copy of one Chinese Calendar Tale of their choice! And the TOP SIX entries in each Category will be published on my blog, which will make you a world famous writer right away!
All the Rules and Requirements are on my Clever Competition page here, so click the link right away and start writing! The deadline is FRIDAY 10TH MAY so get those trotters trotting!
The Princess is thinking…be patient my friends!
November 1, 2018 at 10:16 am | Posted in Clever Competitions, Poetry competitions for children, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Perfect Pet Poem Competition, Princess Precious, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Tale of Temujin
Illustration by Harry Harrison from The Tale of Temujin
Do not disturb! This Princess Precious is thinking! And she’s loving all the entries in the Perfect Pet Poem Competition! I’ll be announcing the results soon – but please be patient in the meantime! Remember…a watched pot never boils!!!
Beware!! Just 11 days left in my Perfect Pet Poem Competition for Primary School kids!
October 17, 2018 at 3:14 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, Poetry competitions for children, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Ching Shih, Perfect Pet Poem Competition, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Desmond Dog
Ching Shih, the real-life pirate queen in my story The Tale of Desmond Dog, would like to warn you that you have just 11 days left to enter your Perfect Pet Poem in my latest Clever Competition! The deadline is 28 October – and you can enter from anywhere in the world! But beware! If you miss the deadline, Ching Shih might just chop your ears off!! Read all the details of the competition here!
It’s time for a new Clever Competition!
August 19, 2018 at 6:15 pm | Posted in Book Week, Clever Competitions, Poetry competitions for children, Writing competitions for kids | 4 CommentsTags: Clever Competitions, Poetry competition, Primary School writing competition
Hello all my lovely followers out there! I’ve been away on summer holidays with my family, and have just had a fantastic time in Melbourne for Book Week, and now I’m back on deck here in Hong Kong! So it’s high time for another challenge for you budding writers!
This time you must write a poem about a Perfect Pet! It can be your pet, or a pet you’d love to have, or even somebody else’s pet! It can any sort of pet – from an ant to an elephant, so long as it’s a pet you’d love to have!
It can be any sort of poem too! Go to my Clever Competitions page here to find out how to enter and to check out all the rules!
The deadline is Sunday, 28th October, so get out your pen and paper, and start writing now! I can’t wait to read your entry!
The Dashing Dog Story Competition judging begins!
April 9, 2018 at 5:59 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: The Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition
A big THANK YOU to all you wonderful writers out there who entered my Dashing Dog Story Competition! I’ve been away in Australia looking after my Mum over the last 2 weeks since the competition deadline, so I’m just starting the judging today!
There are a whopping 68 entries, from 18 different schools in 5 different countries ranging from Doha to the United States to Australia to China! So please be patient and bear with me, and I’ll post the results just as soon as I can!
Just 5 days left in my Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition!
March 26, 2018 at 11:29 am | Posted in Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: The Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition
WOOF! Desmond would like to warn you that there are just 5 days to go in my latest writing competition for Primary School aged kids anywhere around the world! So if you want to take part, quickly click here for all the details! I can’t wait to read your story!
Ahoy there! Just 31 days left to enter your Dashing Dog Story in my Clever Competition!
February 20, 2018 at 2:38 pm | Posted in Clever Competitions, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Ching Shih, Clever Competitions, Harry Harrison, The Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition, The Tale of Desmond Dog, The Year of the Dog, Writing Competitions for Kids
Ching Shih would like to remind you all that you have only 31 days left until the deadline of the Dashing Dog Story Competition! She would also like to remind you that failure to enter might just result in your being tied in knots and hoisted overboard!!!!
So heave ho me hearties, and send those stories in! It’s very chilly at the bottom of the South China Sea! All the details you need are here!
Desmond starts his Hong Kong tour early!
January 16, 2018 at 12:50 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Story Readings, workshops, Writing competitions for kids, writing workshops for children | Leave a commentTags: Chinese history, Ching Shih, Hong Kong history, How to Write a Riveting Story, Stories about Chinese Zodiac characters, Stories about pirates, The Tale of Desmond Dog
Desmond Dog got off to an early start (a month before his official year begins!) yesterday when I visited one of my favourite Hong Kong schools, Kingston International School in Kowloon Tong! The Grade Ones met Desmond first, and as such, had naming rights for the two little creatures that Harry Harrison always adds in to his wonderful illustrations! See my next post to find out what they called them! The Lower Primary school all had fun pretending they were pirates, like the infamous baddie in the story, Ching Shih, with many a ferocious “Aha, me hearties!” but were reminded at the end of the story that Crime Doesn’t Pay! They also learned about Hong Kong’s early history! Then the Grade 4s to 6s all took part in my How to Write A Riveting Story workshop! I can’t wait to see their entries in my new Dashing Dog Story Competition! Warm thanks to Jade Englebracht who hosted me – I had a ball! More photos to come!
It’s time for a Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition!
January 14, 2018 at 5:17 pm | Posted in children's literacy, Chinese Calendar Tales, Writing competitions for kids | 5 CommentsTags: Clever Competitions, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Dashing Dog Story Writing Competition, The Tale of Desmond Dog
Are you a primary school student anywhere in the world? Do you love DOGS? Do you love writing stories? Then it’s time to enter my latest international Clever Competition, The Dashing Dog Story Competition!
Introducing Desmond Dog, the latest loveable character in the Chinese Calendar Tales series! Like all Chinese Zodiac dogs, he’s brave, noble and kind, and he LOVES protecting his little village, keeping everybody safe from harm! And of course, his Year of the Chinese Zodiac is just around the corner!
So it’s about time that we had a story writing competition all about DOGS! This time I want you to write me a story about a typical Chinese Zodiac Dog, like Desmond. I want him to be brave, kind, honourable and above all, DASHING!! You also must have
- a title for your story, the more interesting the better!
- a Chinese setting – be that a village, a city, a river, a lake, a mountain or even a Chinese planet in the future! So you’ll have to do a bit of research, and make sure to include lots of details which make the setting typically Chinese!
- a scary typhoon!
- a flying fish with golden scales
- a wise philosopher
- an evil cat
- the colour mikado – and if you don’t know what colour that is, you’ll have to look it up!
Go to my Clever Competitions page here for all the details, rules and information.
The deadline date is Friday 23rd March, so pick up that paper and pen and get ready…get set…WOOF!
Blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.
Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog 