Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog

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!

A Holiday Workshop – for Grown Ups!

A big hello to you all and I hope that you’re all enjoying your summer holidays and reading lots and lots of lovely books! I’m going to be talking to mums and dads all about the importance of kids reading books, especially now, in the digital age, and I’m going to be giving them my Top Twelve Tips about how to encourage all you little monsters to read in your free time! So if you think your mum or dad might be interested, tell them to take a look at the flier below, and come along to the workshop on Thursday this week!

Hello to the brilliant boys of Wah Yan Primary School!

A big hello again to all the boys and teachers of Wah Yan Primary School in Shiu Fai Terrace! It was great to meet you all today, and I really enjoyed introducing you to my books and especially to my Tale of a Dark Horse (Year 5) and Tale of Pin Yin Panda (Year 4). It was a lot of fun!

A fun Sunday at the Festival of Children’s Charities in Hong Kong!

Yesterday I spent the day with ten fabulous children’s charities in Hong Kong, as they talked about their programs and the fantastic work they do at the wonderful Children’s Charities Festival at the D Building in Lai Chi Kok! In the morning I helped to judge a fun spelling competition for the kids, and in the afternoon the children met my hungry Chinese dragon when I gave them and their mums and dads a reading of The Tale of Chester Choi! Thanks to the fabulous Esther Ma of Prestique, organiser of this worthy annual event, for inviting me!

Happy Birthday Hong Kong … and me too!

thehktimes.wordpress.com

Today is Hong Kong’s birthday, which celebrates the handover of Hong Kong back to China. It also just happens to be my birthday and the birthday of my twin sister Annie too!! It’s a public holiday, and tonight there will be fireworks! I always like to think that the holiday and the fireworks are in my honour – but maybe that’s just wishful thinking!