Two fabulous ladies at the AFCC 2016 in Singapore!
May 28, 2016 at 10:56 am | Posted in Being an Author, Book Fairs, Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, children's literacy, Singapore, workshops | Leave a commentTags: Asian Festival of Children's Content, Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey
Say hello to two lovely friends – one old and one new – I met at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content 2016 in Singapore’s magnificent National Library this week! To the right is Denise Tan, owner of Closetful of Books which distributes my Chinese Calendar Tales and Dirty Stories to schools in Singapore and which was official bookseller at the Festival for the second year; to the left is the famous Cynthia Leitich Smith, New York Times best-selling author of over a dozen books for kids and young adults! It was a great privilege to hear her speak about writing for young adults; she’s a very funny lady! I had a fantastic time at the Festival hearing remarkable speakers and meeting writers and illustrators from all around the world – especially Asia! Best of all was that every single person I met loves BOOKS!
Two fabulous days at The Kellett School!
April 26, 2016 at 4:23 pm | Posted in Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Hong Kong Schools, School visits | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, The Kellett School, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, The Year of the Monkey
Many thanks to Lisa Share, head of libraries at The Kellett School, for inviting me and my Chinese Zodiac animals to two fabulous days with the Kellett kids! On Monday I visited the Pok Fu Lam campus with my mischievous Ming Kee Monkey, where the lovely Natalie Fitton hosted me to a fun day of story readings in the library with Years 3 to 5!
Today I had another lovely day at the Kowloon Bay campus, hosted by my dear friend Beth McNeilly (below left with some fabulous Kellett Monkeys) in the library. We had fun story readings for Years 2 to 4, who all met my Ming Kee Monkey and heard the fabulous true life story of the famous Buddhist explorer Xuanzang and his Journey to the West, immortalised in the Legend of the Monkey King! And it was even more special for me to bring along my oldest friend Prue Kesby (below right) – we were in Grade One together, a long time ago!
My third and final day at SJS!
March 15, 2016 at 6:17 pm | Posted in Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, School visits, workshops | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Clever Competition, How to Write a Riveting Story, Shatin Junior School
Today I was so happy to visit my friends at Shatin Junior School again for my How to Write a Riveting Story Workshop with the wonderful Year 4s! But I’m also very sad to be finishing my three day visit too! You can cheer me up again by entering my Clever Competition (see tab above), and if the Year 4s use that Story Planning Sheet to plan their stories, I’m sure they’re going to be fantastic! And thanks for the lovely book orders! You’ll have them all by next week!
A fun event for the YRI Lit Fest on Sunday!
March 14, 2016 at 1:43 pm | Posted in Bookshop event, Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Literary Festivals | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Growhouse, Hong Kong Young Readers International Literary Festival 2016, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey
On Sunday morning I had a fabulous time introducing my mischievous Ming Kee Monkey to a lovely bunch of kiddies and their parents at Growhouse in Duddell Street, Central, for the Hong Kong Young Readers International Literary Festival! Many thanks to my hosts Phillipa Milne at the Lit Fest, and Matt Steele of Growhouse!
A great day with my friends at DBIS!
March 12, 2016 at 2:25 pm | Posted in Children's Chinese Zodiac Books, Chinese New Year, School visits, workshops | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Poetry workshops, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey
A big HELLOOOO to my old friends, the kids and teachers of Discovery Bay International School, where I spent a very happy day on Friday! The Year 5s and 6s unscrambled limericks, identified haikus, invented acrostics and rhymed tricky words in my Introduction to Poetry workshop; the Year 1s and 2s learnt all about what it’s like to be an author, and the Year 3s and 4s heard my Tale of Ming Kee Monkey! It was great to be with you all again! Warm thanks to Naomi Gist, DBIS Library Co-ordinator, my fantastic host for the day!
A fun interview with Noreen Mir at RTHK3!
March 12, 2016 at 1:58 pm | Posted in Books about Chinese Zodiac, children's literacy, Chinese New Year, Press | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, RTHK3, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, Year of the Monkey
On Thursday I had a fabulous interview with Noreen Mir at RTHK3 in Kowloon Tong. If you want to hear us talk about The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey, the fantastic history behind it, as well as all my other books about the Chinese Zodiac AND how to become great readers and writers in the digital age, here is the link!
Ming Kee appears at the HK Young Readers Lit Fest THIS SUNDAY!
March 9, 2016 at 4:19 pm | Posted in Bookshop event, Literary Festivals | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Growhouse, Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey
Ming Kee Monkey and I are appearing at the Hong Kong International Young Readers Literary Festival this weekend on Sunday, 13th March from 10am to 11am at ,G/F Baskerville House, 13 Duddell Street / 22 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong! If you want to meet my monkey and hear her tale of mischief, mayhem and the getting of wisdom, then make sure to book at http://www.eventbee.com/v/yrf2015/event?eid=179136194 ! We look forward to meeting you there! Here below is Harry Harrison’s fantastic poster for the Festival!
A Misty Day at The Peak School!
March 9, 2016 at 4:00 pm | Posted in Books about Chinese Zodiac, School visits, Story Readings | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, The Peak School, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey
What a magical day it was today at The Peak School – I swear that Chester Choi was flapping around us near his magic cave, high up that misty mountain today! I had four fabulous sessions with the Year 3s and Year 4s, who all heard my Ming Kee Monkey’s tale, while learning all about Xuanzang, the great Buddhist traveller, and the wonderful Emperor Taizong of Tang…not to mention the rare animals of Yunnan’s jungles! Many thanks to my friend, teacher librarian Liz Mills-Campbell and lovely library technician Susan, for hosting me today. I can’t wait to get all your entries in my Clever Competition (see button above)! And a big hello to a very cute student in Year 3, below, who came to Book Week this week as Pin Yin Panda and even built a model of Pin Yin’s home in the Wolong forest in Sichuan! Here we are with the model, and my cheeky Pandora panda, having a play date with Pin Yin Panda!
The Deadly Deadlines are chasing YOU!
March 8, 2016 at 4:11 pm | Posted in Book Awards, Books about Chinese Zodiac, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Clever Competition, The Tale of Rodney Ram
YIKES! The deadlines are coming, thick and fast! There are just:
3 MORE DAYS to vote for The Tale of Rodney Ram in the Younger Readers category in the Golden Dragon Book Awards 2016! So if you are a school student, teacher or parent living in Hong Kong, and you haven’t cast your vote yet, here is your final reminder! Please go to
http://www.hkgoldendragonawards.org/voting.html right away to cast your vote! If you’re not sure if your school is affiliated with the Awards, speak to your teacher or librarian at school right away and ask them to contact the organisers urgently!
16 MORE DAYS to enter my Mischievous Monkey Story Competition! If you are a primary school student anywhere in the world, you are eligible to enter, and entry is FREE of charge! Please go to http://www.sarahbrennanblog.com on the Clever Competitions Page for all the details!
So you’d better get a move on, or those deadlines are going to eat you up for dinner!
And finally, if you want to see what Rodney Ram, Ming Kee Monkey and I have been up to for the last 6 months in schools in Australia, Singapore, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, including some great new Youtube videos, press, photos and school testimonials, go to my website at http://sarah-brennan.com for my latest mega-update!
A fun day with my old friends at Shatin Junior School!
March 7, 2016 at 5:04 pm | Posted in Books about Chinese Zodiac, Chinese New Year, School visits, Story Readings, workshops | Leave a commentTags: Chinese Calendar Tales, Publishing workshops, Shatin Junior School, The Tale of Ming Kee Monkey
It was great to see my old friends at Shatin Junior School again today, and to introduce all the kids from Year 1 to Year 5 to my mischievous Ming Kee Monkey…not to mention the great Emperor Taizong of Tang, the brave Buddhist traveller Xuanzang, and The Legend of the Monkey King and the Journey to the West! And after a fun day of story readings, I ended with a workshop with Class 5.4 on Publishing Picture Books from Brilliant Idea to Final Product! During my publishing workshop, I had the great pleasure to meet a fellow-publisher, Justin Au, who has published his own fantastic book of cartoons! Here we are below with our books:
I’ll be back again with more workshops for the Year 5s tomorrow, and with Writing Workshops for the Year 4s next Tuesday. I can’t wait! Many thanks to literacy co-ordinator Skye Jeynes for inviting me!
Blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.
Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog 