The Truck Cat

By Deborah Frenkel & Danny Snell

Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

This is a bit of a dream team of writer and illustrator: Deborah Frenkel has written quite a few picture books including the charming Naturopolis, illustrated by Ingrid Bartkowiak, reviewed in StoryLinks, while award winning  Danny Snell has a long list of picture books to his credit. It is definitely worth while to explore their personal websites as you will find some top knotch children’s picture books there.

Truck Cat is the appealing story of Tinka who gets around in a giant B double tri-axle truck driven by her friend and companion Jacoub. Jacoub is a bit lonely; he is finding this new country huge and a bit strange. People don’t always understand him, his jokes, his words or his silences, but Tinka is always there to comfort him.

One day Tinka is lured away while chasing a butterfly and is adopted by Mari who has a bakery. All summer long Tinka worries about Jacoub alone in his truck. Meanwhile Jacoub drives around making deliveries and wondering what happened to Tinka. Their warm and wonderful reunion starts a whole series of new beginnings.

This is a moving but ultimately uplifting story about loneliness, adapting to a strange country, making a home and creating a new family. It is warmly illustrated in soft colours, full of charming expressive detail that hints at underlying emotions. It shows how important our animal relationships are and how much animals contribute to the quality of our lives.

A lovely story to share and talk about with children aged 3+

Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing 2024

Deborah Frenkel

Danny Snell