I recently interviewed Sarah Brennan, a Hong Kong based children’s author who is currently in Shanghai to promote her most recent book, Oswald the Ox. In preparation, my kids and I read all three of her Chinese calendar themed children's books. These funny and entertaining rhyming tales each center around animal from the Chinese Zodiac. Thus far, Brennan has written about a dragon, a rat, and most recently an ox. The books were a huge hit in my house.

Do you write with a particular age group in mind?

SB: I do a lot of work in primary schools with kids aged anything from 4 to 12 so I write with them all in mind! I try to keep the stories simple and appealing enough for the littlest kids to enjoy whilst keeping the language challenging and adding a bit of dark humour for the older kids (and of course their mums and dads!). I like to think that children can "grow up" with my books and appreciate them on different levels and in different ways as time goes by.

Do you plan to write books on all 12 zodiac animals? Can we hope for more than one per year?

SB:Yes, I'm committed now to the next 9 Chinese Calendar years! It's fun having a long term project like this, and I'm always jotting down ideas for the animals in the years ahead so that by the time it comes to write their story, I've got a heap of inspiration! I like giving each beastie it's own year in the sun, so it's unlikely I'll publish more than one in any given year, though I never like to say never.

I assume Temujin, the character in your next book, is a tiger. Can you share anything about what readers can expect from the next book?

SB:Temujin is most definitely a Tiger! He's the Terror of the East, and just like his namesake the young Genghis Khan, he wreaks a trail of death, destruction and fine dining right the way across Mongolia into China and up to the gates of the Grand Imperial Palace! But there he meets a very spoiled princess with a great line in tantrums and a piercing scream! Watch what happens when two irresistible forces collide...

What zodiac animal are you? Does the description match your personality?

SB: I'm a Rat, and a typical Rat at that! I'm ambitious, very hard-working, and curious about just about everything but I HATE being bored and can get very grumpy and impatient if things don't move fast enough!

When writing your books, do you collaborate with the illustrator throughout your writing process?

SB:I don't collaborate with Harry during the actual writing stage, but Harry sometimes makes very clever suggestions after I've shown him the manuscript and I do take these on board. Harry is brilliant to work with when it comes to the illustrations as he picks up and runs with the humour in the text and makes the stories even funnier!

Beijing was featured in Run, Run Rat. As part of the Shanghai Expat community, I have to ask…Have you considered setting any of your zodiac stories in Shanghai?

SB: Hmm... now you mention it that's a brilliant idea! Watch this space!

Anything else you think City Weekend readers might enjoy learning about you or your books?

SB:When you read my books, always watch out for the two little creatures which Harry draws on every page - they're different for every book, and they always have a little story of their own going on! And my message to kids? Read as many of the older classic stories for children as possible, in their original versions. They have great story lines and rich language which we just aren't seeing in many of the books being published today. We seem to be losing so many wonderful words in the new "dumbed down" books and factory-written series with which the big publishers are currently flooding the children's book market. Our kids are worth more than that. And if we lose a part of our language, we lose a part of ourselves.

Sarah Brennan will be doing a public reading at Garden Books on Saturday, Nov 21st, 2pm - 4:30 pm.

Brennan will also be a guest author at the next Shanghai International Literary Festival in March, 2010.