Little Ash: Party Problem by Jasmin McGaughey, illustrated by Jade Goodwin

Title: Little Ash: Party Problem

Author: Jasmin McGaughey, illustrated by Jade Goodwin

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 3^rd November 2022

Format: Paperback

Pages: 64

Price: $9.99

Synopsis: Australian tennis superstar Ash Barty teams up with Jasmin McGaughey and Jade Goodwin to bring young readers this fun and exciting new illustrated series about school, sport, friendship and family.

Ash and James have been invited to their friend’s birthday. It’s a fancy-dress party and of course, Ash is dressed as a tennis player! But when Ash loses her favourite tennis racquet, she is so worried. Even with James’s help, will she ever find it?

~*~

Ash and James are off to Noah’s birthday party – and they’re dressed up in fancy costumes. Ash has dressed as a famous tennis player, and has been allowed to take her shiny, new tennis racquet with her – as long as she doesn’t lose it! But when it goes missing, Ash needs James to help her find it. But will she?

The fifth Little Ash book has friendship, family, and co-operation, and responsibility, but still let’s Ash celebrate her love of sports with those around her. It is a fun story that takes a contained event, with a few key characters that appear across the series, and explores a big problem or challenge for young kids within their smaller worlds – like losing something at a party, as Ash does in this book.

I think these books will appeal to those who love sport, because they have so much of that at the core, but could hopefully be enjoyed by those who might not be as sporty as well, because they also celebrate friendship and working together and solving problems – so sport isn’t the sole focus of the stories all the time.

These books are perfect for early readers, as they are illustrated and short, and can help them gain reading confidence. These short books are a good next step between picture books and longer novels and chapter books. They also celebrate diversity in their characters – who they are, what they like, and what they do, so they will hopefully have a wide appeal for many readers and engage readers on many different levels. I hope fans of the series enjoy this next book.