Don’t miss a fun session with Harry Harrison and me at the Hong Kong Young Readers’ Festival next week!
June 5, 2020 at 4:24 pm | Posted in Being a publisher, Hong Kong Young Readers Festival 2020, Literary Festivals, Shatin Junior School, Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: Hong Kong Virtual Young Readers Festival 2020, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Chester Choi
I’m so excited to be a part of the Hong Kong Virtual Young Readers Festival 2020! I’m appearing alongside British author and performer Mark Llewelyn Evans, who uses music and storytelling to engage kids with the story of opera, Australian writer and bush worker Matt Zurbo, who inspires kids to create their own stories by finding humour and inspiration in every day events, and fellow Hong Kong writer Anna Tso! The Festival is accessible to all children in Hong Kong, live this and next week, and after that you can view the sessions on the HKYRF website at any time!
My live session with Harry Harrison takes place next Wednesday, and today we had a fun rehearsal with the kids of Shatin Junior School for an audience! They watched our very funny, informative video session, made by my daughter Annabel Cohen, in which we tell how The Chinese Calendar Tales came about, and how to publish a picture book, with some fantastic footage of Harry drawing one of our characters from The Tale of Chester Choi, from initial sketch to final painting! Make sure you visit the HKYRF site next week to see the video and Q and A session yourself!
Say hello to some happy winners!
May 16, 2020 at 10:29 am | Posted in Asia Society Hong Kong, Challenges and activities | Leave a commentTags: Books about the Chinese Zodiac, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020, The Year of the Rat
A big thank you to the lovely mums and dads who sent in these lovely pictures of some of our Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020 winners! From top left, clockwise, we have Yvonne Yang, winner of the Year 1 to 3 Category, and Dhairya Haria, winner of the Year 4 to 6 Category, holding their Boxed Sets of the Chinese Calendar Tales. Then some lucky Prize Draw winners, Charis Chan with her dad Andrew, Maisy and Mavis Leung, with their signed copies of The Tale of Run Run Rat and beautiful Asia Society Hong Kong publication Once in A Life: Encounters with Nara. I hope you enjoy them!
At last! The results are out in The Rascally Rat Tale Competition!
May 9, 2020 at 12:53 pm | Posted in Arden Anglican School, Beecroft, Australian schools, Challenges and activities, Hong Kong Schools, Shanghai schools, Singapore schools, Writing competitions for kids | Leave a commentTags: Books about China for kids, Covid competitions for kids, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Rascally Rat Tale Competition, The Year of the Rat
Illustration by Harry Harrison from The Tale of Run Run Rat
Hooray! At last the results in The Rascally Rat Tale Competition have been posted on my Clever Competitions page! Now I know that a lot of you have been doing lots of school work online during the Covid epidemic, so we had fewer entrants than usual, although we still had entries from Hong Kong, Melbourne, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney! They were of a very high standard, so it was difficult choosing the best! I did so using my special spreadsheet, with all the entries anonymised, which you can read more about on the results page.
Congratulations to everyone who put in an entry, and to all the place-winners! Special congratulations to Therese Li of Arden Anglican School in Beecroft, Sydney for placing FIRST in the Year 1 to 3 Category, and to James Bruser Zarin of Shrewsbury International School, Hong Kong, who placed FIRST in the Year 4 to 6 Category. They both win a signed copy of the Chinese Calendar Tale of their choice, as well as a Boxed Set of the Chinese Calendar Tales for their school libraries! Well done! Congratulations also to the English teachers of Arden Anglican School in Beecroft, Sydney whose students write to an exceptionally high standard for their ages!
So go to my Clever Competitions page right away to read the winning stories and enjoy!
Hang in there, all you fabulous competition entrants!
April 27, 2020 at 5:09 pm | Posted in Challenges and activities, Clever Competitions, Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020 | Leave a commentTags: A Rascally Rat Tale Competition, Books about the Chinese Zodiac, Sarah Brennan's Clever Competitions, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020, The Tale of Run Run Rat
Run Run Rat from The Tale of Run Run Rat, illustration by Harry Harrison
Hang in there my friends! We are SO nearly there with the results for two great competitions:
The Great Year of the Rat Challenge 2020 and my A Rascally Rat Tale Competition!
I promise the results will be published here on my blog REALLY SOON!
Story Reading with Asia Society Hong Kong – The Tale of Run Run Rat!
April 20, 2020 at 3:30 pm | Posted in Asia Society Hong Kong, Video, Year of the Rat | Leave a commentTags: Asia Society Hong Kong, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Run Run Rat, Video story reading
Hooray! You can listen to me reading The Tale of Run Run Rat in this very special story reading for Asia Society Hong Kong here!
Enjoy!
A fun virtual visit to Stamford American International School, HK!
April 9, 2020 at 10:22 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, School visits, Stamford American School Hong Kong, Video, Virtual visits | Leave a commentTags: Bookds about Beijing Olympics, Books about Chinese Zodiac, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Run Run Rat, The Year of the Rat
Yesterday I had a fun virtual visit to the kids of Stamford American International school Hong Kong.We celebrated the Year of the Rat with my story The Tale of Run Run Rat, now celebrating its 12th birthday and 4th edition! After the reading, the kids had lots of questions about the story, and we also talked about what Chinese zodiac animal we were. I’m a Rat, and I had to admit that I’m a typical Rat, always on the go and very ratty when I’m bored! Many thanks to the two Lisas, Lisa Olinski and Lisa Choy, as well as the SAISHK tech team, for making it happen!
Run Run Rat and The Chinese Calendar Tales reach Kiwi Land!
February 17, 2020 at 8:25 am | Posted in Bookshops, Buying my books, Hamilton, New Zealand | Leave a commentTags: Books for Kids, Megan Lindsay, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, The Tale of Run Run Rat
I’m tickled pink! All your favourite Chinese Calendar Tales beasties are now on sale in New Zealand at the fabulous Books for Kids, the best kids’ bookshop in Hamilton! Here is a photo of owner and manager Megan Lindsay with The Tale of Run Run Rat and The Tale of Pin Yin Panda! She tells me that the day after they arrived, three Run Run Rats ran out of the door with grateful customers! Go Run Run Rat!!
Run Run Rat at the China Institute in New York!
February 8, 2020 at 11:32 am | Posted in China Institute New York, Chinese New Year, Events, New York | Leave a commentTags: Books about Chinese Zodiac for kids, China Institute New York, Chinese New Year Family Celebration, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Run Run Rat, The Year of the Rat
Run Run Rat scampered into the China Institute Chinese New Year Family Celebration last Sunday, and here he is having his story read by a lovely China Institute story-teller! I am assured that the room was chockful of kiddies and their parents! I can’t wait to meet some of them in person when I fly out to New York later in the year!
Thank you so much Michael Buening, Operations Director at the China Institute in New York, for inviting me, being so flexible when I had to cancel, and sending me these lovely photos! I’ll see you all soon!
Run Run Rat goes to New York…and hits the New York Times!
February 1, 2020 at 10:33 am | Posted in China Institute New York, Chinese New Year, Events, New York, New York Times, Year of the Rat | Leave a commentTags: Beijing Olympics, China Institute New York, New York Times, The Chinese Calendar Tales, The Tale of Run Run Rat, Year of the Rat
Hooray! Run Run Rat has run all the way to New York, where he’ll meet hundreds of kids, mums and dads at the China Institute during their special Chinese New Year Family Festival this Sunday! Take a look at this link in the famous New York Times: Seven Things to Do with your Kids in NYC this Weekend! I’m so sad that I can no longer be there to read out loud the funny and fabulous story of his adventures travelling around China, where he ends up running in a rather famous race during the Beijing Olympics! But a lovely story teller from China Institute will be telling his story in my place, and showing Harry Harrison’s fabulous pictures up on a screen to the audience during the afternoon, and for an ambitious little Rat, that’s very exciting! Especially in the Year of the Rat!
I’ll be posting lots of photos after the event. Huge thanks to Michael Buening, Director of Operations at the Institute, for inviting me and Run Run to take part in this fantastic event, and for his generosity and understanding over the last few days. I know the event is going to be just fantastic!
A Chinese New Year’s message from Harry!
January 29, 2020 at 10:52 am | Posted in benefits of reading books, Harry Harrison, Year of the Rat | Leave a commentTags: Harry Harrison, Literacy, Metal Rat, The Chinese Calendar Tales, Year of the Rat
Harry Harrison, the fabulous illustrator of the Chinese Calendar Tales, has asked me to wish all our fans a very Happy Year of the Rat! And isn’t his cartoon fantastic?! I just love the grumpy pig (last year’s beastie) being overrun with cunning little rats for 2020!
Now this year is a Metal Rat Year, and apparently that means it will be a great year for just about everybody! Yippee! Here’s what lies ahead:
- new goals!
- new businesses!
- new hobbies!
- strength!
- prosperity!
- and even better, good luck!
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