National storytime at Wallan

Foundation students at Wallan Primary School were among more than one million children to take part in National Simultaneous Storytime on Wednesday.

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 across the country.

It was the 19th storytime event and the first time Wallan Primary School has participated.

Library technician Sue Consiglio said she thought it was a great opportunity to tie in with Education Week and the school also held its open day on Wednesday.

“People were here and it was a great way to get to know some of the kids because I don’t often see a lot of these foundation kids so it was really good,” she said.

“Having the parents here is what made me think about it because it’s nice to get people in from outside to see what we do.

“I think the kids couldn’t get their head around so many people reading the same story at the same time.”

This year’s book was Alpacas with Maracas, written and illustrated by Matt Cosgrove, and it was heard by 1,138,889 children in 11,554 locations around Australia.