Alpacas, maracas and book stackers galore! Students at St Clare's joined over one million kids in Australia and New Zealand in gathering together to be read aloud the same book at the same time for National Simultaneous Storytime!

In its 19th year, the annual Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) event has been a huge success, with kids in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country all sharing in Australian author and illustrator, Matt Cosgrove’s book ‘Alpacas with Maracas’.

The colourful, fun event aims to promote the value of reading and literacy using an Australian children's book. This year’s book celebrates a positive storyline and themes and was chosen for its appeal to a modern and diverse audience, addressing key learning areas of the National Curriculum for Foundation to Year 6, and lending itself to craft and other learning activities – many of which were greatly enjoyed by our students throughout the day.

Our students were treated to a special drama performance of ‘Alpacas with Maracas’. The show and reading was led by four Year 6 students who had been preparing for the event for a few weeks under the supervision of our drama teacher, Ms Nicole Joyce.

The younger students loved the performance so much, that an encore was called for! Four younger students were then invited to re-enact the story along with the seniors during the second reading.

There was buzz of enthusiasm amongst students as they listened and watched 'Macca' and 'Al' shaking their maracas onstage. Ms Joyce said they came away learning an important lesson: "whether you win or lose, it is all about enjoying yourself with your friends in the end".