Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog

This month it’s all about …CHOCOLATE AND CHINESE EMPERORS!

Ready…steady…GO! My new Clever Competition is up and running and you’ve got LOTS OF TIME to get your entry in, what with Easter holidays looming and the whole of May to go after that! So go to my Clever Competition Page right away to find out the very chocolatey Imperial subject!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

To three wonderful schools – Lantau International, Australian International School Hong Kong and Shatin Junior School, for three fabulous bookings over the last ten days – and especially to their fabulous kids, dedicated teachers and of course, their amazing librarians! Rhonda and I had a very hoppy time!

Spring has sprung and the Spring Haiku Competition results are out!

CONGRATULATIONS to Christy Chan, 8 years old, of Miss Gibson’s class, Christian Alliance International School (Winner of Grade Four to Grade Six Category) and Isha Bhojwani, Class 3C, Kowloon Junior School (Winner of Grade One to Grade Three Category) in my Spring Haiku Competition! They beat 205 other competitors from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore to win a free copy of one of my children’s books! Well done! Read their entries, and the entries of the nine other place-getters in each Category, on my Clever Competitions page now!

It’s Ching Ming Festival!

Today is Ching Ming Festival (or Gravesweeping Day), which is a public holiday here in Hong Kong and in Macau, Taiwan and the Chinese Mainland! It’s also celebrated right throughout the world by Chinese people, even if they don’t get a holiday! 

“Ching Ming”, or “Qingming” in traditional Chinese,  means “Clear and Bright” and that’s exactly what Chinese families make the graves of their ancestors today, by clearing away weeds; touching up gravestone inscriptions; making offerings of fruit, tea, wine, flowers and even their departed ancestors’ favourite foods like chicken and pork! They might also burn paper models of things they think their ancestors might need in the afterlife, like cars, houses, phones and especially money!

It’s all part of the Chinese tradition of ancestor worship which dates back thousands of years, but it’s also a time for whole families, from little kids right up to grandparents and even great grandparents, to gather and enjoy each other’s company and reminisce about loved ones who have passed away. What a wonderful thing to do!

Do you long for adventure?

If you dream of exotic travel to faraway places, filled with adventure and mystery, then you’ll just LOVE my new Brilliant Book! Click right away on my Brilliant Books page to find out all about it, then click on my Amazing Authors page to read about it’s wonderful author, whose own childhood was pretty exotic too!

Wow! That was fun!

Rhonda and I hopped into Kennedy School today to visit 900 rampant rabbits and bouncing bunnies (a.k.a. carrot-crunching kids)!! Thanks to Michelle Sarjana, all the wonderful staff and above all, the Kennedy kids! I had a fantastic time!

Meet Matthew: author, illustrator and Grade 3 kid at QBS

One of the best parts of my job is meeting truly talented kids! Here is Matthew, a Grade 3 student at Quarry Bay School, who I met during my fabulous visit there this week. He’s written and illustrated lots of books – here is one! Well done Matthew – you’re an inspiration! And hello all you QBS kids who’ve been visiting my blog – I look forward to your competition entries!

What a Hoppy Visit to Shatin Junior School!

Rhonda Rabbit and I had such a happy day last Thursday and today visiting all the hoppy bunnies of Grades 1 and 2 at Shatin Junior School! They were all such fun, and luckily most of them were dog people (and if you don’t know what that means or why that’s important you need to read my Tale of Rhonda Rabbit!) Thanks SJS staff and students!

Are you simply bursting with excitement now that Spring is here?

Spring is here, and holidays are round the bend, and best of all, the swimming pools are filling up!! If you are so happy that you could jump for joy, then you REALLY NEED my new Wicked Word to tell everyone just how you’re feeling! So go to my Wicked Word page right away for a fizzy new word that’s perfect for Spring!

The Haiku for Spring competition is Hotting Up!

Wow! In the last week I’ve received over 50 fabulous entries into my Haiku for Spring Competition from the students of Christian Alliance International School in Hong Kong – as well as entries from Singapore, Shanghai and other great schools in Hong Kong! So if you haven’t got your entry in yet, you’d better get hopping! See my Clever Competitions page above for all the details.