What do you get when you mix a giant truck, a curious cat, and a much-loved actor? A purr-fect adventure that’s coming your way!
National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. Now in its 25th successful year, it is a colourful, vibrant, fun event that aims to promote the value of reading and literacy, using an Australian children's book that explores age-appropriate themes, and addresses key learning areas of the National Curriculum for Foundation to Year 6.
The event is FREE! Enter today!
NSS receives positive media coverage and generates a great deal of community interest. 2024 was our biggest and most successful NSS to date with over 2.3 million participants at over 21, 000 locations!
Find out more here.
What do we look for in the National Simultaneous Storytime book?
Each year interested publishers send in possible titles. From a practical perspective, the publisher has to be able and willing to provide copyright release for use of the illustrations, book projection, translation into other languages and performance. The publisher also needs to commit to a special print run of several thousand copies. This narrows down the options. The criteria for choosing from the remaining books include: a positive storyline; appeal to a modern and diverse audience; suitability for read-aloud (language and length); how well the book lends itself to craft and other activities.
This event takes place online.
This year NSS takes place on Wednesday 21 May 2025 at 12:00pm and we would love it if you could join us! Everyone can join NSS, it doesn't matter whether you are at home, a school, a public library or even a university library! Register below to participate - it's free! To purchase a copy of this year's NSS book to read on the day, head over to Hardie Grant Children's Publishing's Website and order your copy now.
The event is FREE! Enter today!
About the author
Deborah Frenkel is a writer of books, billboards, and the words on the back of cereal boxes, which to date is probably her most widely read work (and certainly the most crunchy). Her picture books include the award-winning Naturopolis (2022) and The Sydney Harbour Fairy (2023). She's based on Bunurong land, in Melbourne’s Inner West, but spends most of the time squinting at horizons in her imagination.
(ALIA, NSS 2025, About the Author).
Click here for Deborah Frenkel official website.
Photo Credit: AWC, 2024.
About the illustrator
As a child Danny Snell was a reluctant reader, so it was pictures rather than words that drew him to the wonder of books. Danny went on to study graphic design and illustration at the University of South Australia and he now works as a picture book illustrator and author. His books have won a number of awards including the CBCA Eve Pownall Award, the Environment Award for Children’s Literature, and the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Award.
(ALIA, NSS 2025, About the Illustrator).
Click here for Danny Snell official website.
Photo Credit: Penguin Books, 2025.
Book Synopsis:
A story about cats and humans, immigration and identity, and homes lost and found.
Some cats are house cats. Some are apartment cats.
But Tinka is a truck cat. Tinka lives everywhere.
Along with his human, Yacoub, Tinka travels roads wide and narrow, near and distant. But no matter how much they travel, home feels very far away – for both of them.
Yacoub drives his truck to make a living, learning the landscape of a new country along the way, and longing for connection. When Tinka and Yacoub are unexpectedly separated, they are determined to find their way back to each other – and, in doing so, might find more than they expected …
The Truck Cat is illustrated (extraordinarily!) by Danny Snell and published by Hardie Grant (Bright Light).
Deborah Frenkel, "The Truck Cat" - Official Webpage.
National Simultaneous Storytime 2025 (ALIA official page).
The Truck Cat (CopyrightAgency Reading Australia) - Teacher Resource.
The Truck Cat - NSS Resources from the Musuem of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House (MoAD) - Teacher Resources.
The Truck Cat (2024) - ALIA NSS 2025 Activities & Crafts eBook.
