Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog

A Ssssssuper Day at Carey Baptist Grammar School!

Sybil Snake and I spent a fabulous day today at Carey Junior School, with story readings, writing workshops and some great debate about the importance of reading lots and lots of books in the internet age! Special thanks to the lovely Ange Ritchie, Junior School librarian, and the dedicated Carey teachers for preparing the kids for my visit so well – I felt wonderfully welcome!

Hellooo Camberwell Girls Grammar School!

A big thank you to the staff and students of Camberwell Girls Grammar School, Grades 4 to 7, for some fabulous work today in my writing and publishing workshops! I look forward to seeing all those writing rules put into practice in my writing competition soon! Special thanks to lovely head librarian Anne Devenish for a terrific first day in my Melbourne Book Week tour!

AUSSIE BOOK WEEK HERE WE COME!

A big helloooo to all our old and new Aussie friends in Sydney and Melbourne! The  Chinese Calendar Tale beasties and I are heading your way for Book Week from the 13^th to the 27^th August! First we’ll be visiting 7 fabulous schools in Melbourne, then flying up to Sydney to visit 4 more terrific schools! We can’t wait to see you all!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Like most of you, I’ve just stopped work for the summer holidays! My family and I are off to ************ to visit my husband’s family and to enjoy the beautiful countryside! My dog Bobby will have a quiet summer here in Hong Kong being spoiled rotten! And I hope all of  you have a wonderful time too, wherever you may be! Rest up, read lots of wonderful books, and if you get the writing bug, make sure you enter my Clever Competition! But above all, HAVE FUN, and I’ll be in touch when school starts again!

Let the Summer Story Competition commence!

(photo credit to National Geographic)

The Forbidden City in Beijing – mighty, mysterious, and the perfect setting for my Summer Story Competition!

The summer holidays are about to begin, with long lazy days and time to think, read, and dream. They’re also the perfect opportunity to write a great story! For my latest Clever Competition, I want you to write me a story about The Secret of the Forbidden City! I’m looking for mystery, magic and adventure!  I’m looking for fabulous vocabulary and excellent style! Most of all I’m looking for an exciting story line which keeps me pinned to the edge of my seat!

All the rules are now on my Clever Competitions page above, so take a look and start scribbling! Deadline date for entries is Tuesday 3rd September.

The Resultssss are Out!

I’ve just posted the results of my Ssscintillating Snake Poem Competition on my Clever Competitions page above! I had so much fun reading all your poems – they were absssolutely fantassstic! With a grand total of 151 entries from 23 schools in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Taiwan, Brisbane and Melbourne, the competition proved hugely popular with you all! It must be because you all loves snakes so much :)! Special congratulations to Athena Yung, Grade 1 at Harrow International School Hong Kong (winner of the Kindergarten and Grade 1 Category), Elle McGuire, Grade 3 Glenealy School Hong Kong (winner of the Grade 2 to 3 Category), and Emma Reed, Grade 6 Glenealy School Hong Kong (winner of the Grade 4 to 6 Category). They’ll each receive a free signed copy of one of my books! So go ahead, slither off to my Clever Competition page and immerse yourselves in some sssscintillating Snake Poems! And keep visiting my blog for details of my Summer Story Competition to be posted soon!

Please be patient!

Hello to all you clever poets out there who entered my Snake Poem Competition! I’m just judging all the entries now and I’m having a lovely time! It will take me a few days though, so please be patient and I’ll let you all know the results as soon as I can!

The Dog Blog returns…with a Snake Poem!

Here I am again, Bobby the Coolest Dog in the Blogosphere! Now my mum Sarah Brennan tells me that the deadline for the Snake Poem Competition is this Friday 7th June, so I thought it was about time I entered myself (being a famous dog poet, as we all know).

So here’s my poem…and if I don’t win the Competition I’m going to be seriously mad at my Mum and might not wag my tail at her for at least a week – so there!!

SNAKES DON’T LIKE DOGS

Snakes don’t like dogs – it’s plain to see

For rarely do they both agree:

A dog loves humans; snakes do not

A dog likes cool; a snake likes hot

A dog is bouncy, soft and round;

A snake lies cold against the ground

A dog can fetch a stick and play;

A snake just sleeps or slides away

And yet despite our different ways

I have to give the snake due praise

For once its heart’s no longer tickin’

I’m told a snake tastes just like chicken!

Bobby Dazzler,  Dog Poet Extraordinaire

Now if I can write a poem SO CAN YOU! So if you haven’t got your entry into my Mum’s Clever Competition yet, you’d better get cracking and send it in by this Friday! All the rules and information are on the Clever Competition page above.

WOOF!

Last but not least….the fabulous Victoria Kindergarten at Causeway Bay!

My very final stop on my annual Hong Kong Schools Tour was the delightful Victoria Kindergarten at Causeway Bay today. This time that cheeky Pin Yin Panda pushed in (as she always does!) and visited the kindy kids in Sybil Snake’s place! We had a lot of fun finding out more about Lord Buddha’s Race and all the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, with some very interesting questions afterwards! Many thanks to Principal Sabrina Lee (on the left) and Head of English Jan Rossiter for inviting me and preparing the kids so well!

Two terrific days with the Grade 5s, Shatin Junior School!

Well that was a fun ride! The Grade 5s at Shatin Junior School and I spent five fabulous sessions this week Nailing the Narrative Curve, with a great deal of attention to Story Planning! And what funny stories we constructed together! There was the lamb chop which turned into a lamb in Butchertown; the painting which bit its painters and sent them on a rollicking adventure in King Arthur’s Court; the married scientists who were saved from boiling alive in a giant volcano by a talking dog; the evil skull-faced old lady who killed a whole classroom but was defeated by a fire-wizard student, and last but not least, the boy who fell of a ladder in the kitchen and ended up in Venezuela! Have fun writing up your first drafts, but remember….follow the story plan!