Excitement grows in schools and households as children anticipate the 2017 annual national communal reading event on Wednesday 24 May.

Each year during the Australian Library and Information Association's (ALIA) Library Week, which runs until Sunday 28 May, young and older readers gather across Australia to read the same picture book together at the same time for National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS).

Dr Kasey Garrison, lecturer and children's librarianships specialisation coordinator for the Master of Information Studies (with specialisations) in Charles Sturt University's (CSU) School of Information Studies, is excited to announce CSU's own bedtime telling of this year's tale of determination and perseverance, The Cow Tripped Over the Moon, by Tony Wilson and Laura Wood.

"The University is involved because NSS is something that our Masters students who wish to work in services for children and young adults will most definitely be planning and implementing themselves," Dr Garrison said.

"This degree specialisation is one where the students really do have a lot of fun creating programs and resources for children and young adults and engaging with the literature written for these groups," she said.

"We encourage them to be practical and apply what they are learning in a real world context. Supporting early literacy initiatives like NSS is important to model best practices, and it is fun for us too!"

Dr Garrison and the School of Information Studies invite all families to log on to an online reading of The Cow Tripped Over the Moon by renowned actor Mr Kevin Harrington streamed live using CSU's Adobe Connect Meeting Room at 7.30pm on Wednesday 24 May.