Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog

Hello to a real Edinburgh Zoo panda … and a couple of furry pretenders…

What a fun day I had today launching The Tale of Pin Yin Panda at Edinburgh Zoo! It was SUCH a thrill to meet Tian Tian, one of the Zoo’s real life pandas, and to read her The Tale of Pin Yin Panda about her fictional (and very cheeky) Chinese cousin! Here she is in the background in her indoor enclosure – she’s gorgeous!

And here are a couple of furry pretend pandas in the Gift Shop:-

Tian Tian is such a Sweetie!

Thank you Julie Preston, Events Manager, and Rachel Goddard, Press Officer, for a fabulous day! I look forward to more Panda-monium tomorrow! And special thanks to photographer Alan Simpson who took these wonderful photos and let me use them for my blog!

And a special hello to Emily Tullett!

Hello to Emily Tullett, a fine Scottish lassie and a fine writer too! I met Emily’s grand-dad Neil Revie on the Great Wall of China during my trip to Beijing in December, and his lovely grand-daughter Emily wrote to me to tell me all about her own writing! So I was thrilled to meet her and her family at the Edinburgh Zoo today just before the official launch of The Tale of Pin Yin Panda!

A Lovely Day at Lambrook School!

Hello all you fabulous kids and dedicated teachers at Lambrook School in Ascot! Thank you for a great day yesterday. It was FANTASTICO! MAGNIFICO! EXCELLENTE! meeting you all!! Keep up the reading and writing…and enter my Clever Competition – that’s an order!

Thank you Lord Patten of Barnes!

This evening I met with the Rt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes (last Governor of Hong Kong and now Chairman of the BBC Trust and Chancellor of Oxford University) at his offices near the Houses of Parliament to give him some signed copies of The Tale of Pin Yin Panda for his eight grandchildren! Lord Patten was kind enough to write a lovely blurb about Pin Yin Panda for the back of the book in which he mentioned his grandchildren, so naturally I wanted to give them all a copy! We had a lovely chat about his memories of Hong Kong and his recent visit there with his extended family, and he told me that his time in Hong Kong as Governor was one of the happiest times of his life. A big thank you to Lord Patten for his time and to his very kind parliamentary secretary Penelope Rankin for arranging our meeting!

Hello to an excellent reader from South Moreton Primary School!

Introducing William Chatterton of South Moreton Primary School, an excellent reader who just loves books! William was a great help to me during my school visit, setting up my display books before my reading session for his class – thank you William… and keep on reading! It will make you happy, healthy, wealthy and wise!

A big hello from Chester Choi to all those Dragons out there!

Chester Choi and I would like to thank all the fabulous kids and teachers of Dragon School, Oxford, not to mention the little Dragons at Lynams, for a lovely day of workshops, readings and fun! Many thanks to their fabulous librarian Rosemary King, Head of English Rachael Austen, and Headmistress Jane West at Lynams, for hosting me and my dragon and making us feel so welcome. Here are some dastardly Dragons reading up on their Chinese counterpart!

Thank you South Moreton Primary School!

Thanks so much to headmistress Susan Gopall and to Sally Hills for organising a fabulous day! What with reading sessions for all the classes from the adorable kindies to the very grown up Grade 6s, a quick how-to publishing workshop with the Grade 5s and 6s and a talk to the dedicated mums, dads and teachers at a final workshop on encouraging reading in the internet age, it was a busy and very rewarding day! Sadly the kids were far too well-behaved, so my dragon Billy Boy didn’t get to eat anyone, but there’s always a next time! Thank you all for having me, and I look forward to your entries in my Clever Competition!

Hello South Moreton Primary School!

Hello all you fabulous kids at South Moreton Primary School! I’m looking forward to meeting you all on Monday! And a special hello to Georgia in Grade 6 who I just met at The Bear Pub in North Moreton – watch out on Monday – I’d sit at the back if I were you …. you might get targeted!

This term, it’s all about PANDAS!

Hello everyone – you’d better hang onto your hats this term! Pandemonium has broken loose and if you don’t know what that means, you’d better go straight to my Wicked Words page to find out! My new friend Pin Yin Panda, my old friend Chester Choi and I all head off to London tomorrow morning together for two fabulous weeks of school visits in Edinburgh, London, Oxford, West Sussex, Ascot and Surrey, two wonderful bookstore events at Blackwells Oxford and Blackwells Edinburgh and the official launch of The Tale of Pin Yin Panda at Edinburgh Zoo!  And if that’s not enough, next week we’re also going to meet Lord Patten of Barnes (that’s former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten to you and me) at the House of Lords to present him with copies of Pin Yin’s story for his eight grandchildren! Phew!

But never fear, you’re going to be busy too! There’s a brand new poetry competition on my Clever Competition page – and of course, it’s all about pandas! You’ve got till almost Easter to enter, so get thinking, start writing and above all, have heaps of fun!

A very Happy New Year to you all…and some fabulous news!

Hello again! It’s a brand new year, and I’m just itching to tell you all the fabulous news!

INTRODUCING the heroine of my latest book, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda –  Pin Yin herself!!

Pin Yin is the brainiest, most beautiful panda in China…or so she likes to think! She’s VERY vain – so vain in fact that she thinks the coming new Chinese Year should be The Year of the Panda! Read all about her adventures in my new book, just out in Hong Kong stores this week, and available very soon where you live!

I’m very excited to tell you that Pin Yin’s book is being officially launched at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland at Chinese New Year, when Pin Yin and I will be able to meet the real Edinburgh Zoo pandas Tian Tian and Yang Guang! Make sure you keep visiting my blog for all the news and photos over the coming weeks!

But never fear all you devoted fans of Chester Choi! He will be flying with me all the way to the UK in just two weeks time to visit some fabulous schools in London, Surrey, Oxford, West Sussex and Ascot to celebrate the new Year of the Dragon!