Welcome to The Quick Six Interview with Deborah Frenkel!
We’re revisiting this interview with remarkable author, Deborah Frenkel, on this special National Simultaneous Storytime Day (more info here), where millions of participants across the globe will take part in reading the utterly heartwarming book, The Truck Cat. Since the NSS announcement, this book has also been SHORTLISTED in the 2025 CBCA Picture Book of the Year Awards, and won over countless hearts with endless affirmations, admirations and well-deserved acclamations. Together, Deborah’s story on finding family, love and belonging in unexpected places, and Danny Snell‘s masterful portrayals of the kindness of strangers and the beauty of connectedness are sure to bring a tear or two (again) to readers across the world.
Enjoy the adventures with Tinka the cat, NSS readers! And CONGRATULATIONS to Deborah and Danny (and Team Tinka) on this very special book and its wonderful achievements! 🙂
About the Author
Deborah Frenkel is a Melbourne-based writer of books, billboards, and even the words on the back of cereal boxes. Her writing for children includes picture books about nature, imagination, and different kinds of belonging. The Truck Cat is her third published picture book, alongside Naturopolis (2022) and The Sydney Harbour Fairy (2023).
Please find Deborah Frenkel at her website: Deborah Frenkel author and on Instagram.
About the Illustrator
As a child Danny Snell was a reluctant reader, so it was pictures rather than words that drew him to the wonder of books. Danny went on to study graphic design and illustration at the University of South Australia and he now works as a picture book illustrator and occasional author. His books have won a number of awards including the CBCA Eve Pownall Award, the Environment Award for Children’s Literature, and The Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Award. Danny Lives in Adelaide with his partner, his 2 daughters and a sleepy old cat. And yes, he loves to read.
Please find Danny Snell at his website: Danny Snell and on Instagram.
The Truck Cat is available to purchase online and at bookstores, check via Hardie Grant.
You can also read along at StoryBoxHub here.
WHO wrote, illustrated and published this book?
The Truck Cat written by Deborah Frenkel, illustrated by Danny Snell and published by Hardie Grant / Bright Light.
WHAT is it about?
It’s a story about cats and humans, immigration and identity, and homes lost and found. All explored through the adventures of Tinka the cat, his human, Yacoub, and their B-double tri-axle truck.
What is your favourite part of this book?
The very last spread! This is in essence a story about love and connection, and the final double page spread sums that up so beautifully, with much warmth and detail into the illustrations. And it’s an ending that might be a bit unexpected, too!
WHEN did you begin writing this book?
At the end of 2021. I pitched it to Rebecca McRitchie of Hardie Grant at an ASA Literary Speed Dating event in May 2022, and that set the wheels (no pun intended) in motion!
When was its release / launch date?
1 May 2024.
WHERE did the inspiration for this book come from?
Ooh, this is a long story! In late 2021, the neighbour’s cat kept turning up at our back door, having apparently decided that we were his new family. We kept carrying him back around to his ‘proper’ house, but after a while (and after he finally turned up bleeding from the face) the neighbours told us they didn’t want him anymore and were planning to take him to the pound (and we all know what that means 😳). So we adopted him on the spot and became his new family for real.
The first thing we needed to do was get him to the vet. We didn’t have a cat carrier or cage, so we put him in the car without one. He wandered happily around the car as we drove, and my husband made a very fateful comment: ‘he’s like one of those cats that belong to truck drivers!’ Right away, I knew there was a story in that.
So I guess that day I acquired both a cat, and the germ of what became The Truck Cat.
WHY is this book meaningful to you?
I thought I was writing about a cat, but as the first draft progressed, I realised I was actually writing a story about migration, and xenophobia, and loneliness, and resilience, and love. It feels to me like this story surfaced a lot of big themes for me – things that had brewed as I witnessed Australia’s evolving (some might say devolving) attitude to non-Anglo immigrants over the years and decades.
I also included part of my own family’s migration story as an author’s note at the end – it’s tangential, because this is not a biographical story, but in a way it’s also central. Australia is my home not because of some inevitability, but because, with love, it was made into one.
Why would its message resonate with readers?
7.5 million Australians come from somewhere else. Many more of us have parents or grandparents who did. That means in so many families, there’s a story like Yacoub’s, and one thing I hope is that this book will open up conversations about family stories of migration. I also think this is a book for any cat person, too, or anyone who loves animals. Or trucks!
HOW do you feel about the illustrations / cover design? How do they convey the feeling or mood you envisioned?
I adore them! There’s so much tenderness in Danny Snell’s cover illustration. I love the contrast between the toughness of the giant B-double truck and the gentleness of the moment between Yacoub and Tinka. I adore the internal illustrations just as much, too – and the endpapers literally made me cry, the first time I saw them!
Thank you, Deborah, for sharing your delightful story with us 🙂
Thanks so much for this opportunity!
#thetruckcat #migration #resilience #love #picturebook #justkidslit
Thanks to Gemma Creegan for sourcing this interview.
