Little Ash: Lost luck! by Ashleigh Barty, Jasmin McGaughey and Jade Goodwin

A sixth book in the series written by Jasmin McGaughy with Ash Barty providing the technical support and her name, will prove just as popular as the previous five. Concentrating on friendship, family, school and sport, the series presents minor hiccups in the lives of the children, Ash and her friend James. From losing a tennis racquet, or trying out for a competition, the stories in each book are highly recognisable, and will appeal to a wide range of children who have just mastered chapter books.

A change of sport in number six, sees Ask playing in a hockey game. But she is simply not happy about it. Everything seems to go awry. From the time she wakes in the morning, nothing seems to go right. She splashes milk all over her hockey top and must change into hr tennis gear. She cannot find her hockey socks, and she and James spend a lot of time searching the room and then the op shop boxes for them. On the way things seem to go wrong again when she walks through a puddle and gets her socks soaking wet. They find the hockey socks behind one of her incredible range of trophies, so all is right again. Ash tells James that earlier she felt quite dispirited but now, after rolling down the hill and eating a muesli bar, things seem to be much improved. The hockey match goes well, with darker font used to stress the words particular to that sport and the description of Ash playing hockey gives a neat overview of the game, its rules and how it is played.

Another eminently readable book within this engrossing series will have readers seeking out the whole series, as well as reading about Ash Barty on the inside back cover.

Themes: Tennis, Hockey, Ash Barty, Competition, Family.

Fran Knight