That was a BUSY week!

March 6, 2022 at 12:43 am | Posted in Hong Kong Schools, mainland China schools | Leave a comment
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This week I had a fabulous time Zoom-visiting schools in Hong Kong and mainland China in the early hours of the morning from here in France!

On Tuesday, I visited the Year 4 students at Yew Chung International School in Chongqing with my writing workshop How to Write a Riveting Story! The kids used my story planner as I explained the importance of characters, setting and plot sequence, and by the end of the session had some fantastic story plans ready to go for their first draft! I can’t wait to see the results! Thanks to my lovely host, English co-ordinator Becca Roden for inviting me!

On Wednesday I visited the Kindies at Sias International School of Zhengdong New District, Zhengzhou to introduce them to my Chinese Calendar Tales with a fun reading of The Tale of Chester Choi, with my toy dragon Billy Boy looking on, then on Friday I visited the whole of primary school during assembly, where I talked all about How I became an Author and the crucial importance of reading books in the digital age, following which they roared like tigers and screamed like spoiled princesses while I read them this year’s Calendar Tale, The Tale of Temujin! Many thanks to librarian and media specialist Elizabeth Baker and tech wizard Tom Kerrigan for making the visit possible!

The fabulous and focussed Year 5s at Stamford American School Hong Kong

Meanwhile on Thursday, I finished my four sessions with my old friends at Stamford American School Hong Kong with a visit to 100 fabulous Year 5s in their homes, where I explained all the fabulous history and real-life mystery behind The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah (A Mystery in Hong Kong)! Thank you Aric Cherry for being such a fun host, and as ever, to Lisa Olinski for all the fantastic organisation!

Session 3 last week with the Grade 3s at SASHK

And today, I slept in…for a long, long time :)!

It was a real pleasure to be working with such enthusiastic and focused students! I look forward to seeing lots of entries from you in my latest Clever Competition, A Terrific Tiger Tale!

Hooray! Maggie and Methuselah is short-listed for the Golden Dragon Book Awards 2021-22!

January 13, 2022 at 10:14 pm | Posted in Book Awards | Leave a comment
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I’m so excited! The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah has been short-listed for the Golden Dragon Book Awards 2021-2022! The three other short-listed books look amazing, and I’m so honoured that my book is listed up there with them! Thank you Hong Kong ALESS! If you want to purchase your own copy of my book, just click on the link above!

Coffee and Conversations and Me!

December 3, 2021 at 12:21 am | Posted in media articles | Leave a comment
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A big thank you to the lovely Shikha Lamba, publisher of the stunning e-magazine, Coffee and Conversations, for this lovely author feature! Shikha’s magazine features fascinating interviews with exceptional writers, artists and thinkers from around Asia and is one of my favourite reads, so I feel very humble and honoured to be their featured author this month! Click on this link to read more (and subscribe too if you want to be encouraged, uplifted and inspired every month!)

The Asian Review of Books loves Maggie and Methuselah!

November 15, 2021 at 4:23 pm | Posted in Book reviews | Leave a comment
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A big thank you to Melanie Ho, book reviewer for the Asian Review of Books, for her lovely review of my new chapter book for pre-teens, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah! Publisher Pete Spurrier at Blacksmith Books, artist Charly Cheung and I were soooo happy to read it!

Here’s the reviewer’s conclusion:

“Books set in Hong Kong can sometimes have a doe-eyedness about them, where the authors over-explain any inclusion of Hong Kong history, culture and traditions or where the characters and descriptions end up reading as tired and clichéd. This is happily not the case with Brennan and Cheung, whose knowledge, experience and sense of Hong Kong allow them to skillfully integrate history, customs and geography in a fun tale with rich illustrations. A good, old-fashioned adventure awaits.“

You can read the complete review HERE! And if you haven’t bought your own copy yet, you can purchase it at your favourite bookshop, or from anywhere in the world online by clicking this link!

Well done Vincy and thank you Kids4Kids!

November 2, 2021 at 10:20 pm | Posted in Writing competitions for kids | Leave a comment
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Meet Vincy Chan, winner of the Kids4Kids Quiz Competition after my Author Visit via Zoom recently with my new book, The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah! Vincy very cleverly answered all the quiz questions correctly and gave a winning description of where she thinks the missing Chater Collection might be found! Here’s what Vincy said:

“I think the beautiful missing collection will be in the government house’s humongous, magnificent garden and there will be an odd, smelly tunnel. You will find a gold, antique key and a brain racking poem that could help you find those unique paintings. Those appealing paintings will be in an old, wooden chest covered with gold and silver coins.”

I think that with writing skills like this, Vincy is well on the way to becoming an author herself! Well done Vincy!

You can listen to my session at Kids4Kids – and learn some fascinating Hong Kong history, as well as find out all about my funny, exciting new chapter book HERE! Thank you David Wong and the inspiring team at Kids4Kids for making this recording available! And thank you to Vincy’s dad for this beautiful portrait of Vincy!

Oh what a lovely launch!

October 26, 2021 at 12:17 am | Posted in Book launches | Leave a comment
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Thank you so much to Arti and Shonee Mirchandani and the team at Bookazine Landmark Princes Building for hosting the launch of my new chapter book The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah on Saturday! It was a fabulous event, and even though I couldn’t be there in person, I was there by Zoom for the whole launch and didn’t miss a moment!

Here are some slideshows of the event, from photos contributed by artist Charly Cheung and her friends, as well as my lovely daughters in Melbourne (who joined my zoom presentation) (you can see their faces on some of the pictures)!

First my publisher Pete Spurrier from Blacksmith Books started off by welcoming the lovely crowd which included some of my very dear old Hong Kong friends, as well as some fabulous young fans!

  • The launch begins, as Pete Spurrier introduces my new book!
  • The dream team! Publisher Pete Spurrier at Blacksmith Books, illustrator Charly Cheung, and me!
  • The kids had the chance to enter through our creepy secret tunnel – just like the tunnels in my book!
  • The cobwebs, spiders and bats on the secret tunnel were pretty creepy!
  • A lovely display of my books – including my Chinese Calendar Tales!!
  • Pete, Charly, me on the screen, and my friends Shonee and Arti Mirchandani from Bookazine!
  • An absorbed young fan…

Then I gave a talk by Zoom about the fascinating history behind the REAL Hong Kong mystery which inspired by story!

  • My presentation begins!
  • Introducing the remarkable Sir Paul Chater, creator of the valuable Chater Collection which so famously went missing!
  • Introducing the main characters in my story!
  • A brief summary of the events preceding Chapter 6! (You can see my lovely daughters Annabel (second from top) and Bea (at the bottom) at the side of the picture.
  • From Chapter 6: the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in December 1941
  • The chapter continues as Maggie and Edmund decide to search for the missing Chater paintings…
  • Some of my lovely listeners! Thanks so much for coming along!

Publisher Pete Spurrier then ran a fun quiz, where he asked the kids tricky questions about my presentation! The kids who got the right answers won some creepy spiders, snakes and bats worthy of the tunnels in my story…as well as upcoming Halloween of course :)!

  • Pete begins the Quiz with a tricky question!
  • It was fun for me to listen in!
  • Urgh!!! Pete throws a bat at a young fan when she answers a question correctly!

Then illustrator Charly Cheung taught the fans how to draw an African Grey Parrot, just like Methuselah!

  • Charly teaches the kids how to draw Methuselah, the African Grey Parrot!
  • A busy drawing class!
  • A young artist…
  • And another…
  • And some more!
  • And the youngest artist of all!
  • Charly presents the artist with the best drawing with an original Charly Cheung print!
  • Charly and some young fans…

Finally, everyone lined up to have their books signed! I’d already signed a book plate for my lovely readers, and Charly added her signature, while the kids had a chance to chat with me at the same time!

  • It was great to be able to say hello to our fans while Charly signed their books!
  • Lining up to get books signed…
  • Saying hello to my lovely fans, including my young friend Lauren (front centre)
  • A fun book signing…

Thank you so much to Charly and Pete for all the wonderful work they put into the launch, with some fantastic decorations and special effects! And a HUGE thank you also to Arti and Shonee Mirchandani at Bookazine, for their fabulous hosting of the event!

And if you’d like to buy your copy of the book, signed by both me and Charly, I believe that there are still some signed copies available at Bookazine Princes Building! Or you can purchase your own (unsigned) copy by clicking HERE!

FINAL REMINDER: Mwa ha ha! Do you love DARK MYSTERIOUS TUNNELS??

October 22, 2021 at 4:57 pm | Posted in Book launches | Leave a comment
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MWA HA HA! If you’re a fan of dark, mysterious tunnels (not to mention hidden treasure), then the launch of my new book The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah is the perfect event for you! Come and join us tomorrow at 3pm at Bookazine Princes Building for the most exciting pre-teen event in town! Click here to register right away!

And don’t forget to bring a torch…and that clipboard :)!

See you there!

Listen to my interview with Noreen Mir at RTHK3 about my new book and the launch this Saturday!

October 21, 2021 at 10:32 pm | Posted in Radio interviews | Leave a comment
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Government House, Hong Kong, drawing by Charly Cheung in The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah

A big THANK YOU to the lovely Noreen Mir at RTHK3, who interviewed me yesterday about my new book The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah and the exciting book launch coming up at 3pm this Saturday at Bookazine, Princes Building! You can register on this link.

Just click HERE at 48:40 on the slide to hear all about:

  • my inspiration for the book
  • some of the fascinating true HK history behind it, including the World War II tunnels still lying beneath Hong Kong
  • why Government House in Hong Kong is an important setting in the story 🙂
  • how I first met our fabulous artist Charly Cheung on a plane 🙂
  • what it was like to write a chapter book for the first time after all my rhyming verse in the Chinese Calendar Tales!

Meet Trevor, a maths-obsessed stay-at-home Dad!

October 20, 2021 at 2:16 pm | Posted in new books | Leave a comment
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Trevor is Dad to Maggie, one of the three heroes of my new book The Marvellous Adventures of Maggie and Methuselah! He met Maggie’s mum, Ursula, back when he was working as an animal conservator at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London. He’s shy, he’s kind, and he loves his daughter Maggie to distraction! But he also loves MATHS PROBLEMS! In fact, his ambition is to solve the world’s greatest maths problems, which is one reason why he loves being a stay-at-home Dad, especially when Maggie is at school and he can work on his computer!

If you click on the link here you can see a fun animation by our fabulous artist Charly Cheung of Trevor busily taking notes back at the museum! Isn’t it fun?!

You can find out more about Trevor and the rest of the characters in my book THIS SATURDAY at the official launch! Make sure you register on this link, and REMEMBER TO BRING A CLIPBOARD!

Just 4 days to go till the most mysterious, exciting book launch for pre-teens in town!!

October 19, 2021 at 5:30 pm | Posted in Book launches | Leave a comment
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There are just FOUR more days to go until the most EXCITING, MYSTERIOUS book launch for pre-teens in Hong Kong!!

Learn about the HIDDEN TREASURE still waiting to be found in Hong Kong! Find out all about all the MYSTERIOUS TUNNELS still lying underneath the city! WIN some creepy prizes in our QUIZ! LEARN HOW TO DRAW a very funny, loveable PARROT with award winning artist Charly Cheung! WIN an original signed Charly Cheung drawing! TAKE HOME some fabulous activities! Get your book SIGNED! I can’t wait to see you there!

NB: Make sure you register for the event by clicking HERE !

NB: And make sure you bring a CLIPBOARD for the drawing lesson!

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