Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog

Sybil’s Secret Mission at the Jade Buddha’s Temple in Shanghai!

Oh No!! Sybil Snake went slithering into the Jade Buddha’s Temple in Shanghai last Saturday morning with a top ssssecret mission!! I wonder if you can guess what it was?

Here she is, with me in the temple grounds, with all the worshippers burning incense – isn’t it beautiful?

And hiding in the gardens, surrounded by beautiful carvings:

Watch out Sybil! Here is a Buddhist lady monk, reading a prayer…. she’s onto you!

Now Sybil is sneaking upstairs, peering through the windows…and over the rooftops:

And slithering quietly past the reclining Buddha, and other sacred friends…

Past an amazing Chinese artist, who paints scenery with his hands:

To the fabulous treasures in the museum upstairs!

Aha!! She’s found some gold at last! Goodbye Sybil Snake, sleep well in your grotto…that clever Buddhist monk will be along soon!

A fabulous finale at BISS Puxi!

What a fantastic way to end my Shanghai Schools tour this November! I had four fabulous sessions with the wonderful Grade 2 to 6s and their dedicated, friendly teachers at BISS Puxi on Tuesday before flying home to Hong Kong. Huge thanks to my terrific host Elizabeth Wood for looking after me so well! Photos to come soon!

WISSssssss was Wonderful!

A big thank you to my dear friend Fiona Collins, head of libraries (right) and the lovely Adrienne Johnson, primary librarian at Western International School Shanghai (left), for a fabulous day of story readings with the kids from Grade 2 to 5! We had so much fun Ssssing and Shhhing and learning some fascinating Chinese history – it was magic!

Sybil Snake slithers in to M on the Bund!

Sybil Snake and I dropped into our all-time favourite Shanghai events venue M on the Bund for a story reading session on Sunday morning! Here I am with some of the lovely audience – we had a lot of fun! Thanks to the wonderful Tina Kanagaratnam for organising the event!

A Ssssuper Ssssaturday afternoon at Starbugs!

It was my huge pleasure to meet principal Qing Yang and the dedicated teachers and gorgeous children of the innovative local after-school book reading club Starbugs Academy on Saturday afternoon! We SSSSSed and SSSSHHHHed our way through the Tale of Sybil Snake with great aplomb, and had a lot of fun!

SUIS was ssssizzling!

A big thank you to Fran Bruce, Assistant Head and English Co-ordinator at Shanghai United International School, Honqiao campus, and the fabulous staff and students for the warmest of welcomes on Friday! Fran made a ssssstunning Sybil Snake, complete with golden ball, joined by Vice-Principal and PYP Co-ordinator Jane Alston as Pin Yin Panda and Co-Principal Zhang Hong as Chester Choi, with a real life cookie jar!! We had workshop sessions with the Grade 6 to 8 students, and story readings with the younger students, with Sybil Snake, Pin Yin Panda and Chester Choi acting up a storm! Above see Chester Choi, Pin Yin Panda, Sybil Snake and Co-Principal Martin Donnellan and I with the winners of the SUIS Book Competition, and below at left, talented twins Amy and Annie Lee, with their books, and at right, the Library Club with a delicious chocolate cake baked in honour of my visit – it was scrumptious!

A Sssuper Day at SASssss Puxi!!

Wow – what a fabulous bunch of students I met today at Shanghai American School Puxi!! We had story readings galore, from Chester Choi to Pin Yin Panda to this year’s very special Sybil Snake! Here are the lovely Beth Rohrbeck, who was a wonderful author host, and some – but not all – of the terrific Grade Ones, ALL the Grade Twos, and some of the Grade Three and Fours,, not to mention the super-readers a.k.a the Library Pages of Grade Five, pictured at the bottom! Thank you for the warmest of welcomes and KEEP ON READING BOOKS!!!!!

Helloooo Shanghai American School at Pudong!

Huge thanks to the lovely Kimbra Power for a fabulous day at SAS Pudong! What with Pin Yin Panda preening herself and Sybil Snake slithering, and the big kids learning a bit about story planning, we had a ball! Here are some gorgeous Grade 4s and the dedicated Library Pages above, and Kimbra and I and some First Graders below!

Sybil Snake is sssslithering up to Shanghai on Ssssunday!

A very sssspecial hello to the kids of Shanghai! Sybil Snake and I are coming your way on Sunday, for 10 fabulous days of story readings, writing workshops and fun! We’ll be visiting six super schools, and there will also be a special event at M on the Bund on Sunday 3rd November at 10am! So if you haven’t met my sassssy Sybil Snake and found out her sssscintillating secret yet, make sure to come along!

Hello again to my friends at Sharon Lutheran School!

Well that was fun! Today I revisited the friendly students and staff of Sharon Lutheran School in Mong Kok for a story-telling of The Tale of Pin Yin Panda with a difference! 16 brave souls volunteered to act the parts of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac, not to mention the Cat, the Stinkbug and the Frog…and of course, Pin Yin Panda herself! They threw themselves into their roles with great enthusiasm, and we even managed to include a re-enactment of the Great Race around the assembly hall! Huge thanks to Marcus Lo and principal Jessie Yum for having me back for a very enjoyable afternoon!