The Scholastic Branches books are fantastic for new readers looking for a bit of a different read from a picture book. You may have already heard of The Owl Diaries or The Unicorn Diaries, this new series The Party Diaries by Mitali Banerjee Ruths and Aaliya Jaleel is our favourite so far. In book 1, Awesome Orange Birthday we meet Priya and learn a little bit about what it takes to plan the perfect party.

Priya loves to plan parties and does so in an eco friendly way. She loves to reuse old items and turn them into the perfect party decor. She loves it so much that she has started a little business called Priya’s Parties and instead of receiving payment for her work, she asks for a donation to help one of her favourite animals, in this book it’s the quokka.

I love this series because it centres a human person, someone that readers can connect with and in whom can see glimmers of their own lives reflected. Animal books are cute and all but if you look at the statistics, more books are written featuring animal main characters than South Asian characters so this highly engaging story/series is one that fills a gap in readers lives.

Mitali Banerjee Ruths has written an engaging story written in a diary format with easy to navigate text, lots of pictures and diagrams and a voice that is distinctly recognizable to the suggested age group. As I was reading it definitely sounded like The Bee and her friends when they get together. I also love the message of being eco friendly and being supportive of a worthy cause. It’s something I see and hear everyday in our household so certainly topical and top of mind with children today.

Aaliya Jaleel’s illustrations are colourful and joyful as one would expect when reading a book about a party. I love the selection of orange hues used in the pictures and especially loved the map on pages 24-25. In amongst the houses and other buildings are a Synogogue, temple, mosque and church, showing readers what a vibrant and diverse community looks like.