The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel illustrated by Danny Snell

Yacoub lives in his truck. He drives huge distances carrying many different things. English is not his first language, and he sometimes finds it difficult to talk to the other truck drivers he meets along the way but luckily Yacoub has his little cat named Tinka. Tinka keeps Yacoub company on long journeys and under the stars at night. But then one day Tinka is distracted by a fluttering butterfly, and he accidentally leaves Yacoub behind. Luckily Tinka is rescued by a kind young woman named Mari. Tinka is happy living in htis new place and he enjoys her bakery and the fresh fish she feeds him but he is also worried about his friend. Will Tinka and Yacoub ever be reunited?

Here is the web site for Deborah Frenkel. I previously talked about this book:

Naturoplois

Here is an interview with Justkidslit where Deborah Frenkel talks about The Truck Cat.

Here is the web site for Danny Snell. 

Blurb from the teachers notes (via Pegi Williams): Tinka is a truck cat, travelling the open roads of Australia with Yacoub in his truck. Yacoub doesn’t know many other people, but he and Tinka always have each other. Until one day, Tinka gets distracted chasing a white butterfly and ends up on a busy main road, with cars and trucks separating him from Yacoub. Luckily, Tinka is saved by a kind-hearted baker, Mari, who takes him into her home and her life and feeds him. But Tinka always worries about Yacoub, out there in the silence. Yacoub worries about Tinka too, missing the companionship of his friend … until one day, a smell draws him to the window of a bakery, where a familiar face waits for him.

By chance I borrowed The Truck Cat from the library this week and then today I saw it was announced as the 2025 National Simultaneous Storytime book which is on May 22nd, 2025 at 12:00pm AEST

About National Simultaneous Storytime: by facilitating NSS we aim to: 

• promote the value of reading and literacy, 
• promote the value and fun of books,
• promote an Australian writer and publisher, 
• celebrate and promote storytime activities in public libraries, school libraries, classrooms and communities around the country,
• and provide opportunities to involve parents, caregivers, the media, and others to participate in and enjoy the occasion.

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

I was very interested to read the criteria because I had (wrongly) assumed that since (in the past) Scholastic Australia were sponsors of this event the book had to be a Scholastic Australia publication. I am pleased to see I was wrong. The book this year comes from Bright Light which an imprint of Hardie Grant Children's Publishing.

Things to talk about and discuss after reading The Truck Cat:

How do you know the setting for this story is in Australia?

Do you think Yacoub has always been a truck driver? What does it mean 'to make a living'? 

How do you know Yacoub has not always lived in Australia? 

Why is Yacoub thinking about 'the old country'? What does this phrase mean?

Think about the sentence "Until cool hands lifted him from the road, held him gently, and carried him to a car." How does the meaning of this change if you alter the words 'cool' and 'gently'. What emotions do you feel when Mari rescues Tinka.

Tinka cannot tell Mari that he is worried about Yacoub but what might he say if he could talk?

When do we get the first hint that there might be a cultural connection between Mari and Yacoub?

How does Deborah Frenkel give her story a perfect sense of completion? 

The final pages show changes to the lives of Mari and Yacoub - what has happened? Talk about the way Danny Snell has extended the text well beyond the words of the story. How has 'home' now changed for Yacoub?

Discuss the vocab from the book - interloper, mewing, lunged, daintiest, depots, tri-axle, rafters

Older students - read the end notes from the author and research refugees from WWII who settled in Australia. Find other picture books about the modern refugee experience. Here is my Pinterest with some books that are sure to be in your school library. 

Research Polish cakes and biscuits. Check if your family have favourite recipes from other cultures.

Yacoub calls his grandmother Nena. What do you call your grandparents?

Book design - note the changes to the end papers; the consistent colour palette used in the water colour illustrations; the use of framing as a way to sequence the plot.

How does Danny Snell show movement of Tinka and also of the traffic in his illustrations?

A similar thing happens on the page where the truck is carrying eggs - how do we know the truck is moving slowly so the eggs don't get scrambled?

Narrative devices - repeated structures - some cats are house cats, some are apartment cats, some cats live on farms, some live this the city. AND at the end sometimes he's a bakery cat, sometimes a sofa cat; sometimes he's a picnic cat and sometimes a train cat.

What device is Deborah Frenkel using with these phrases - brick motels with beetles in the bathtub; rest-stop huts with rats in the rafters; depots dancing with dragonflies; lorikeets landed in the lemon tree; pigeons pecked in the petunias.

You could make a library display of past NSS titles and even have a mini readathon in your classroom exploring all of these terrific Australian Picture Books.

If you can't read all of these try to find Arthur by Amanda Graham; Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowles; The Wrong book by Nick Bland; Too many elephants in this house by Ursula Dubosarsky; and Mrs Wilkinson's Chooks by Leona Peguero. 

National Simultaneous Storytime

National Simultaneous Storytime began here in Australia in 2000. The Australian Library and Information Association select a picture book, by an Australian children's author and illustrator to be read simultaneously in libraries, schools, Pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes and bookshops around Australia. 

NSS aims:

• promote the value of reading and literacy,
• promote the value and fun of books,
• promote an Australian writer and publisher,
• promote storytime activities in libraries and communities around the country,
• and provide opportunities to involve parents, grandparents, the media and others to participate in and enjoy the occasion.

Here are the books from past years:

2001 Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowle illustrated by Rod Clement

2002 Mrs Wilkinson's Chooks  by Leone Peguero illustrated by Mike Spoor

2003 I don't want to go to school by Christine Harris illustrated by Craig Smith

2004 Muddled-up Farm by Mike Dumbleton illustrated by Jobi Murphy

2005 Wombat Stew by Marcia K Vaughan illustrated by Pamela Lofts

2006 Good Night, Me by Andrew Daddo illustrated by Emma Quay

2007 The Magic Hat by Mem Fox illustrated by Tricia Tusa

2008 Arthur by Amanda Graham illustrated by Donna Gynell

2009 Pete the Sheep by Jackie French illustrated by Bruce Whatley

2010 Little White Dogs Can't Jump by Bruce Whatley and Rosie Smith

2011 Feathers for Phoebe by Rod Clement

2012 The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland

2013 The Wrong Book by Nick Bland

2014 Too Many Elephants in This House by Ursula Dubosarsky illus Andrew Joyner

2015 The Brothers Quibble by Aaron Blabey

2016 I Got This Hat by Kate and Jol Temple illustrated by Jon Foye

2017 The Cow Tripped Over the Moon by Tony Wilson illustrated by Laura Wood

2018 Hickory Dickory Dash by Tony Wilson illustrated by Laura Wood

2019 Alpacas with Maracas by Matt Cosgrove

2020 Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas by Lucinda Gifford

2021 Give Me Some Space! by Philip Bunting

2022 Family Tree by Josh Pyke illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh

If you work in a preschool or with a Kindergarten class you could plan to read each of these books in the lead up to the 2023 NSS event. This year the book will be:

It was finally time for the event of the year, Spike couldn’t believe it The Great Race was here! The other sloths said it couldn’t be done, but Spike didn’t care, she was ready to run!

The joke in this book begins on the front cover. Clearly sloths are not speedy. I do like his dorky pants and his brand-new shoes which show he is keen to do his very best in the race. He so clearly has huge optimism about the possibility of success - he WILL win the race or will he?

It might be timely to explore other books about sloths! I found this one in a school library - Sparky! by Jenny Offill and Chris Appelhans.  Sparky was published in 2014 so sadly it will be difficult to source but it might be in your school library along with these other books about sloths.

A little girl wants a pet. She's not fussy, any will do. Her mother said no to a bird and bunny and trained seal. Then she agrees to the sloth, Sparky! Sloths don't know how to fetch. Or roll over. But they sure know how to play dead. What's an eager pet owner to do?

Sparky won the Charlotte Zolotow award in 2015. Here is the Kirkus Star review.

I also recommend these two:

In the US this has a different cover and title - The Sloth who Slowed us Down

Read this glorious sentence from this book: I am lackadaisical, I dawdle and I dillydally. I am also unflappable, languid, stoic, impassive, sluggish, lethargic, placid, calm, mellow, laid-back and, well, slothful! I am relaxed and tranquil, ...

Here are some other books about sloths - sadly nearly all of these are out of print or extremely expensive here in Australia but you might be lucky and find one or two in a well stocked school library.

Helen Lester is the author of the Tacky Series

J. Otto Seibold is the author of the fun Christmas book Olive the Other Reindeer

This is very old and so no longer available - Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross always create fabulous books

This book is long out of print sadly (1994). It is about Noah's Ark. 

The paperback edition had a better cover if you can find it. 

My friend from Kinderbookswitheverything has a post about Sloths (International Sloth Day) and she has a Pinterest picture book collection too.

I am sure you will also want to explore some non fiction books about sloths.  Head to Dewey number [599.3].

This is a very new book published in 2023 [9781682771341]