The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O'Neill

I think it may be the long winter, but I am feeling incredibly thankful for the existence of tea right now. 

So here is a book. About tea. Growing on dragons. 

Yeah, sort of of bizarre, but it is a cute book! 

But first. Check out this super cool bowl and plate I found at Salvation Army in Anchorage. It has thin spots that let light shine through. It makes me really happy. 

I didn't plan on schlepping them back to NY from Alaska, but... I did. 

See the dots? I don't even know what this sort of thing is called, but it impresses me greatly. How does that even HAPPEN? 

Magic. That's what. 

Okay, back to the book.

The characters are an interesting blend of species, but are all pretty adorable. 

The illustrations are amazingly cute. 

Blacksmiths getting some press time! 

Once upon a time, blacksmiths were as important as medicine.

Goblin blood. And a nose ring. And blacksmithing.

That is one tough mama!

This book has been praised for breaking gender stereotypes, for obvious reasons.

On a trip to town Greta hears some nasty wolves/coyotes cornering some pitiful creature. 

So she gives them the meat she just bought and scoops up the pitiful thing.

Greta takes the wee thing home. 

Her father tells her the pitiful thing belongs to Hesekiel who owns the tea shop near town. Greta returns it to its owner and learns it is a small tea dragon. 

Tea dragons grow a wonderous tea on their horns. 

Greta is invited to come back to learn more about them. On the way home she meets a stranger. With cotton candy pink hair and her own tea dragon.

She invites her home

And they become friends.

SO COZY

Greta starts blacksmithing for real.

The tea dragon society, dedicated to preserving tea dragons is born.

And they have picnics under blossoming trees. 

I want a picnic under blossoming trees.

At the end, there is an entire tea dragon handbook, which is very detailed and intricate. Pretty sure this is just the beginning of The Tea Dragon Society. Because why not?

And I see a second book is on it's way this fall, so.... 

If you want to read this book in it's entirety, it's online! And free! Super cool! 

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Werewolves are so not my thing. I am boring, prosaic. I like real people and realistic fiction. I was almost an entire decade behind on the Harry Potter bandwagon. I never felt the need to squeal over Twilight. Dystopian novels are not my gig. I read mid-century girl lit for fluffy, thoughtless reading. (Betty Cavanna-Anne Emery-Janet Lambert devotees unite!)

I know! I. Am. Boring. The thing is, I had a depression/anxiety problem when I was a teen. (I still have it to some extent if I don't exercise/sleep/eat right. In other words, after each and every of my four pregnancies. Postpartum OCD. I didn't know it was a thing, I thought I was just bizarre. But it is legit and turned my world upside down each time.) Reading about uncertainty and never before conceived of things to worry about was not my idea of a good time. I wanted realistic things with problems that could be solved in a mostly happy way. I didn't want sugar sweet, I just wanted some sweetness somewhere. I wanted hope. 

So the depths of dystopian and fantasy themes in today's YA genre were left unplumbed by me. Until I had to take a Young Adult Literature class last spring. I didn't have high hopes, but I figured I could slog through the book list. 

As it turns out, I may not be keen on fantasy, but I do make exception for masterfully executed fantasy. JK Rowling is a genius. I adored the Harry Potter books. But the fact that everyone said Rowling was incredible made me even more convinced that I wouldn't enjoy lesser authors attempts. 

Enter Maggie Stiefvater. 

I am not sure I would go so far as to say she is on the same level as Rowling. But I loved this book. 

There was a bit of angst. There were mystical happenings. There are inter-species longings that were a little weird. 

But they all combine in a marvelous way. Things make sense. Inter-species longings are justified. The entire werewolf thing is believable. (If werewolves living in a brick house in a Minnesota suburb is believable.)

And there is romance. Love that transcends all the weirdness. And best of all, there is hope. 

Sam is a werewolf who is more human than wolf. Grace is a 17 year old human who is really drawn to the wolves in the Minnesota woods behind her home. One wolf in particular stands out--the one with yellow colored eyes. 

As the town demands the death of all the wolves for the suspected attack of a high school student, Sam suddenly finds himself wounded on Grace's back door step in human form. Fortunately, Grace's parents are completely non-involved. She can invite him in and care for him without worrying about her parents finding a teenage boy hanging around in her room. (Despite the werewolf thingy, this was one of the most unbelievable parts.) Of course, they fall in love. There is a connection between them. But why? 

Time is limited. The cold makes Sam turn into a wolf again. And it is October in Minnesota. How long will they have together before he turns? And will he ever turn human again or is this brief time their only shot at happiness? 

Angst. Love. Werewolves. Hope. 

They are all there in glorious technicolor. 

(Of course, there are additional books in the series, if you get hooked.) 

The Story of the Snow Children by Sibylle von Olfers

(I really wanted my amaryllis in the picture. It didn't work out quite as well as it could have, but my amaryllis is very red and sunshiney!)

This is an incredibly adorable, charming, and sweet book that you will like much better than your children will. It really is. I bought this a few years ago as a treat for my kids. I think we have read it once. It is so cute!! But... the story is not as delightful and entertaining as the pictures are. It is markedly a product of it's time, 1905. Poppy, the heroine really does nothing, but go along with what others tell her to do until she gets too tired and cries. She is then carried home. It is realistic in a way that children are always carted around and told what to do, but... we like our heroines to have a little pep. 

But it is so sweet.  

See how cute it is? Adorable!

Poppy is left all alone as her mother just stepped out for something. She sees snowflakes dancing and playing in the garden, calling for her to come out and see them. 

The snowflakes call for Swirly-wind to bring her sledge to carry Poppy to the Snow Queen's castle. 

The snow queen and the royal princess. While I think those little snowflake babies are adorable, the sameness of them all is vaguely disturbing to me. Snowflakes are delightfully different, not clones.

They have a lovely meal with snowman waiters. Which are vaguely disturbing to me as well. Not sure why. Something about the humanness of their non-humanness looks like they are men in puffy white suits. Who may have a sinister reason for hiding inside snowmen suits...

I am weird. Pay no attention to me. 

Finally, Poppy has had too much. 

Her ears and eyes had had enough and her body ached. Now all she wanted was to go home.

Over-stimulation. That will do it every time. 

The Snow Queen's snowman drives Poppy home where her mother is waiting to welcome her home and hear about her adventure.

Admittedly, I am not a fantasy fanatic, but I typically love sweet fairy stories like this. However, this one just doesn't do it for me or my kids. I like the pictures better than the story. 

The Mouse Mansion by Karina Schaapman

I found this at our library the other day. The kind of book that would have kept my 10 year old self busy for hours poring over the details. My 9 year old and 8 year old love it. 

The endpapers. My 33 year old self still pored over the details. There is so much to see! 

The actual real live Mouse Mansion that Karina Schaapman made. The rest of the book uses this mouse mansion as a backdrop for the adventures of Sam and Julia, two little friends who live in Mouse Mansion. Julia lives at the top, and Sam lives in the middle.

Julia and Sam

Julia flipping pancakes. I love all the little bitty details. The hook behind her head! The cute little frying pan!

That sink!

Sam's new baby triplets. 

Sams apartment.

Oh, the idea of making a doll house like this just thrills me. (And wears me out a little.) But look at that little chess set! And red floral upholstered living room suite!

The story line is gentle, but full of deeply interesting little kid day to day life details and adventures. 

That bed! 

Sam and Julia helping out in the laundry. Soap bubbles abound!

Sams bedroom

Sam and Julia out and about, doing the shopping. 

Sweet nighttime friends. 

First Tomato by Rosemary Wells

This is the story of Claire, an adorable bunny who is tired of snow, cold, and school and longs to be in the garden, tasting the ruby red sunshine of the first tomato. While waiting for the bus, after an exhausting day Claire takes a trip to the Bunny Planet.  

The Bunny Planet is where The Day That Should Have Been lives. 

This is one of Elsie's precious little books. Last year she carried this book around almost continuously for two months. We read it over and over. Which was okay, since before Elsie liked it, I loved it. (I actually censor my kids reading quite a lot. Censor as in, if I think it is a dumb book, I don't buy it. So there aren't a lot of books hanging around that I don't like.) 

The morning starts all wrong. Claire's cereal spills, her shoes fill with snow.

Oh, I remember this feeling--bored/confused/tired of school. 

After missing her bus in the afternoon, Claire sits in the cold, waiting for another bus. 

It was a hard day.  

As she sits in the cold, the bunny queen swoops down and takes her to the Bunny Planet.

"Far beyond the moon and stars, 

Twenty light years south of Mars, 

Spins the gentle Bunny Planet.

And the Bunny Queen is Janet."

"Here's the day that should have been."

Her mother sends her to the garden in her old, old clothes to pick a tomato for her.

I love Claire, reveling in the dirt, the tomato-y smells, the warmth. 

I love Claire. 

Although Claire really, really wants to take the first tomato for herself, she brings it to her mother. And her mother makes her "first tomato soup because I love you so."

We all have days when we need a visit to the Bunny Planet. And as Claire sees, "It was there all along!" Each person's Bunny Planet looks different. But it is there. Ready to be escaped to when we feel like giving up. 

At least for those with vivid enough imagination.