The Truck Cat: National Simultaneous Storytime 2025

(Hardback)

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Description

The Truck Cat is a story about cats and humans, immigration and identity, and homes lost and found.

With illustrations by multi-award-winning artist Danny Snell and words by award-winning new voice Deborah Frenkel, The Truck Cat is the perfect book to inspire kindness and compassion in young children everywhere.

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

About National Simultaneous Storytime

Now in its 25th year, National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) has grown and grown, and in 2024 attracted over TWO MILLION registered participants!

NSS is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) with the aims of encouraging young children to read and enjoy books as well as teach them the value of literacy.

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. ALIA and Hardie Grant Children's Publishing are thrilled to announce that The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel and Danny Snell is the NSS title for 2025.

Get ready to join in on the fun when NSS sweeps the country yet again on Wednesday 21 May 2025.

Head to www.alia.org.au/nss for more information.

Reviews

'At a time when the world is in turmoil, much of it due to ignorance, intolerance and bigotry, there could not be a more timely choice for a book that will bring children right across the country together, in a glorious celebration and a move towards greater acceptance and empathy.

[Truck driver] Yacoub is, like many others, an immigrant and feels the distance between both his homeland and his adopted land heavily, given the barriers of distance and language and customs. Meeting Mari, who has rescued his precious [cat] friend Tinka, is like a renewal of spirit for Yacoub. It is not just a connection with his old life but an invitation to a new one, one that will embrace not only his adopted country but create an entire new identity for him, with a family and home.

My biggest commendation to ALIA for this choice and my total admiration to both creators, Deborah Frenkel and Danny Snell, who have given us this very special book.' Sue Warren,Just So Stories

Author Bio

Deborah Frenkel is a Melbourne-based writer of everything from books to billboards and even the words on the back of cereal boxes. Her writing for children includes picture books about nature, imagination, and different kinds of belonging.

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. Danny lives in Adelaide with his partner, his two daughters and a sleepy old cat. And yes, he loves to read.