25th May 2022

National Simultaneous Storytime is an event held every year, often in May, where an Australian picture book is celebrated all around Australia by being read on one particular day in schools, childcare centres, book shops, family homes, libraries and other places. This event, organised by ALIA (the Australian Library and Information Association), has been held for the last 22 years and aims to promote the importance and value of books, reading and literacy.

It was great to see our Year 5 and 6 students participating in this year’s event which celebrated the wonderful picture book, ‘Family Tree’, by Australian author Josh Pyke and illustrator Ronojoy Ghosh. The students watched a fantastic recorded reading of the book by the current Australian Children’s Laureate, author Gabrielle Wang. They then completed an activity that encouraged them to reflect on the messages of the book and what family means to them by creating their own ‘family leaf’.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Pyke

Josh Pyke is a successful and much-loved Australian singer/songwriter, renowned for his unique and wonderful storytelling and lyricism. Josh has created many bestselling albums, won four ARIA awards, and has also written several stories for children. He is a lifelong ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (Scholastic)