Join us and VIP reader Gabby Millgate online for National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) as we head into the world of Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas.

Every year, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) selects a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, to be read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places across the country.

The book chosen for 2020 is Whitney and Britney Chicken Divas by Lucinda Gifford.

‘Whitney and Britney are two gorgeous chooks who live alongside Dora von Dooze. But Dora is perplexed—why do her dear chickens seem to sleep all day long? Dora decides to snoop. She follows the chooks out at night to the local jazz club where she discovers, to her amazement, that they are Whitney and Britney: Chicken Divas!’

This year, the National Library has engaged Gabby Millgate to be our VIP reader. Grown-ups will know Gabby from Muriel’s Wedding and her many years in TV comedy, but in real life, she is the Nature Pedagogy Leader at Woden Valley Child Care Centre in the ACT.

In this role Gabby combines her love of early learning with her passion for gardens and chickens.

National Simultaneous Storytime is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association.

The National Library of Australia acknowledges Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the First Australians – as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of this land and gives respect to the Elders – past and present – and through them to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Cultural Notification

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this website contains a range of material which may be considered culturally sensitive including the records of people who have passed away.

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