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 Kennedy School kids meet Ping Pong Pig!
February 17, 2019 at 10:13 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Kennedy School, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac for kids, Books about Pigs for kids, Books about The Year of the Pig for kids, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
On Wednesday I took my tasty little Ping Pong Pig to meet all my old friends at Kennedy School in Pok Fu Lam! 900 kiddies from Year 1 to Year 6 made that difficult choice between crispy pork and cute pink pigs as they exhorted Ping Pong to Run Pig Run! or Stay Pig Stay! while the crafty Minister of Most Important Things tried to track her down, in four delicious story reading sessions! A big Thank You to English Co-ordinator Jeff Moore for inviting me in, and assistant librarian Susan Mifsud (below to my right, with Michelle Spratt teacher librarian to my left) for being such a welcoming host! And to all you Kennedy kids – I look forward to receiving your entries in my new Clever Competition!
A great day at CAIS!
February 17, 2019 at 8:57 am | Posted in Christian Alliance International School, Hong Kong Schools, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac for kids, The Tale of Chester Choi, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
On Tuesday I visited the fabulous new Butterfly Valley campus of Christian Alliance International School! The Prep and Grade 1 kiddies met my hungry, lonely dragon in The Tale of Chester Choi, and everybody else up to Grade 6 just LOVED PORK when we shared The Tale of Ping Pong Pig! Warm thanks to teacher librarian Phebe Liu (to my left, above) for inviting me, and assistant librarian Eunice and tech wizard Brunel for looking after me so well! More photos to come!
My Poor Hand!!
February 11, 2019 at 4:01 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Oh dear…I’m sure you’ve heard of Writer’s Block?! Well, this Writer has Writer’s Hand! I’ve been using my signing hand so much lately to sign books, and make up beautiful boxed sets, that my hand has become so sore it has finally said “Enough!!“. So I have to wear this bandage and rest my hand, and in particular, I am very sad to say, I am not allowed to sign any books until it gets better! So if you’ve been kind enough to order books from me following my school visits recently, I won’t be able to sign those books before I return them to your school for handing out. I feel so sad about this – and if you’re one of the people whose books I haven’t been able to sign, and you see me somewhere at an event in Hong Kong in the coming weeks and months, make sure you bring your book up to me so I can sign it then! Thank you for being so understanding!
Ping Pong Pig visits Japanese International School in Tai Po!
February 11, 2019 at 3:39 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Japanese International School, Story Readings, writing workshops for children | Leave a commentTags: How to Write a Riveting Story, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
Today my plump little Ping Pong Pig and I dashed into Japanese International School in Tai Po, just up the road from my house! We met the gorgeous Grade 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s in two funny story readings, then the Grade 5s and 6s had two workshop sessions where we explored How to Write a Riveting Story! It was so great to see you all again! Many thanks to my lovely hosts below, Principal Simon Walton (who also fixed my car at lunchtime when the battery ran out!), and Cath Wan, librarian and PYP co-ordinator, to my right, as well as to the terrific staff including support teacher Angie Bilbow on the far right in the picture! I had a lot of fun!
A Big Fat “Happy Year of the Pig!” from Harry Harrison!
February 11, 2019 at 3:27 pm | Posted in Chinese New Year, Chinese Zodiac | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Chinese New Year, Far East Economic Review, Harry Harrison, South China Morning Post, The Guardian, The Year of the Pig
My friend Harry Harrison, who is the FABULOUS illustrator of the Chinese Calendar Tales, has asked me to post this very funny cartoon on my blog to wish all his fans a very Happy Year of the Pig! Harry is the famous cartoonist in the South China Morning Post as well as many other publications in the world, such as The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom and the Far East Economic Review. I’m so lucky that he illustrates my stories – and all the fans of the Chinese Calendar Tales are too! What can we say but Thank you Harry!
Kung Hei Fat Choy!! It’s officially the Year of the Pig!
February 5, 2019 at 10:59 am | Posted in Chinese festivals, Chinese New Year, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
Illustration credit : Harry Harrison from The Tale of Ping Pong Pig
She’s singing! She’s dancing! And she’s gobbling…A LOT!!! Just what any happy little pig should do at Chinese New Year, especially when it’s HER year!! Ping Pong Pig and I would like to wish all our fans – be they pig-lovers or pork-lovers – a very happy New Year of the Pig!
May your mornings be full of joy, your afternoons full of mirth, and your nights full of peace! And may your tummies be content, always!
Kung Hei Fat Choy!
A Funny and Fabulous Visit to Shatin Junior School!
February 4, 2019 at 2:35 pm | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, Shatin Junior School | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac for kids, Books about the Year of the Pig, Emperor Zhu Di, Ming Dynasty, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig, Yongle Emperor
Illustration credit: Harry Harrison. From The Tale of Ping Pong Pig.
My second school visit last week, on Wednesday, was to my dear friends at Shatin Junior School, just around the corner from my office in Fo Tan! In four very noisy and animated sessions all the kids from P1 to P6 made friends with Ping Pong Pig, and echoes of “Run Pig! Run!” could be heard in the playground in all the breaks! Above, you can see Ping Pong heading off to the Forbidden City in the evil clutches of the Minister of Most Important Things! Run Pig! Run! And below, me and my toy pig Paavo (cousin of Ping Pong Pig) with a fabulous bunch of Year 6 Pig lovers!
A wonderful visit to Beacon Hill School in Kowloon Tong!
February 4, 2019 at 2:27 pm | Posted in Beacon Hill School, Hong Kong Schools | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese history for kids, Books about Chinese Zodiac for kids, Chinese New Year, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig, The Year of the Pig
Last week I visited two lovely schools with Ping Pong Pig and all her Chinese Zodiac animal cousins! Here I am above with a fabulous hall of students at Beacon Hill School in Kowloon Tong! All the primary school classes met my new Chinese Calendar Tales character Ping Pong in 4 big, fun sessions, and cheered on my little pig as she kept escaping the clutches of the wily Minister of Most Important Things in his attempt to win favour with the third Ming Dynasty Emperor Zhu Di! Many thanks, as ever, to the lovely Emily Jeves, Deputy Principal, for inviting me in and being such a great host! Here we both are with our own animal signs (I’m a Rat and Emily is a Dragon, and we both love that Ping Pong Pig) below!
Oh what a lovely Launch!!
January 31, 2019 at 9:53 am | Posted in Book launches, Bookazine Exchange Square, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Bookshop event, Boxed Set, Chinese Calendar Tales, Chinese New Year, Fabulous fans!, Hong Kong events, RoomtoRead, Writer Ambassador | Leave a commentTags: A Dirty Story, Bookazine Exchange Square, Harry Harrison, Room To Read Writer Ambassador, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ping Pong Pig
Phew is it busy at the moment!!! I’m so busy with lots of lovely school visits and book orders that I’m very late with my blog-posts! So, my lovely followers, you are going to receive quite a number today!
First and foremost, I want to tell you about last Saturday, and the wonderful launch of The Tale of Ping Pong Pig and our beautiful new Boxed Set of Chinese Calendar Tales at Bookazine Exchange Square! We had a fabulous crowd of fans there, old and new, including many old friends who had come to our launches at the very beginning of the series!
First we had speeches from Shonee Mirchandani of Bookazine, who with her sister Arti has hosted ALL my book launches ever since A Dirty Story back in 2004; then from my dear friend Jennie Orchard, who spoke about RoomtoRead, the wonderful children’s literacy charity for whom I am a very proud Writer Ambassador. 20% of the proceeds of sale at the launch is being donated by me and Bookazine to the RoomtoRead library in India that Bookazine is generously funding! You can find out more about RoomtoRead’s fantastic work in India here.
Then I was very pleased to talk about the series and all the wonderful people who have contributed so much to its success. First and foremost, that had to be Harry Harrison, our fabulous illustrator!
Then our designers e5 and printer KK Mok at Zhongtian Colour Printing HK Ltd, who sadly could not be with us.
Then Arti and Shonee of Bookazine of course!
Then my beautiful family – my daughters Bea and Annabel (who surprised me with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers so I cried :))
And my darling husband Philippe who has supported me in every way, through thick and thin, during the 13 years of writing and publishing the series. Here he is on the right with me, Jennie Orchard and Harry!
And last but never least, my fantastic fans, including kids, mums and dads, teachers and librarians, all over Hong Kong!
Next came my story reading of The Tale of Ping Pong Pig – our very last Tale in the series, out just in time for The Year of the Pig! The kids in the audience were such fun to read to, and they and their mums and dads enthusiastically joined in whenever poor little Ping Pong ran into trouble from her nemesis, the Minister of Most Important Things! Then Harry’s annual quiz for everyone from 2 to 102, with prizes of tiny pandas for the right answers…
And then a real treat! Harry showed everyone how he draws his characters…and then the kiddies joined in!
And finally, our traditional book signing, when it’s such a pleasure to meet our lovely fans!
My daughter Annabel got her annual finger signing from Harry and me of course!
It was such a happy, exciting and colourful event, and I’d like to give my warmest thanks again to Clemence Robine, who organised the event for Bookazine and who generously allowed me to borrow some of the photos on Bookazine’s FaceBook page. You can see more here!
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