Ariana Treasure: The Perfect Day by Jacqueline de Rose-Ahern. Illus. by Karen Erasmus

For junior primary children beginning to show more interest in reading early chapter books, this new series Ariana Treasure will provide an excellent stepping stone from classroom readers. With six novels in the series, there is an opportunity for children to become familiar with Ariana and The Treasure Chest – a thrift shop which her mother owns and manages.

In this fifth story The Perfect Day, Ariana’s Aunt Grace is getting married. Ariana is bridesmaid and it is going to be the perfect day. Or is it? Ariana is given the important responsibility of looking after the three-tiered wedding cake. As she and her friend Maya lift it to safety there is a disastrous accident. The cake is ruined and so is Aunt Grace’s perfect white wedding dress. Ariana feels terrible. How can this catastrophe be sorted? With family and friends helping even the rainy weather does not put a dampener on what will finally be the perfect wedding day for Aunt Grace.

The vocabulary used in this book is accessible and provides repetition. The text is large and the sentences are simple and well-spaced. The idea of using a thrift shop as a setting will provide a unique experience for some readers or a familiar one for others who visit second hand shops.

Themes: Thrift shops, Weddings, Accidents, Worries, Problem Solving, Happy Endings.

Kathryn Beilby