Book Review: Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham; illustrated by Juan Winjgaard

Tashi is a young girl living in a small village in the shadow of the Himalayan mountains. Every morning she walks to the tea plantation with her mother and sits in a secret spot playing and sharing her food with a band of monkeys who also spend each day there, as she waits while her mother spends the day picking tea. And now her mother is ill with a cough "hard and sharp like a stick breaking". One morning, when her mother is so sick she cannot rise from her bed to go to work, Tashi tries to take her place, dragging the her large tea basket to the plantation. When the heartless Overseer scorns her efforts, Tashi takes refuge in her secret spot and tearfully spills out her troubles to the monkeys. The male monkeys take Tashi's basket and disappear up the mountain into the mist, and return with the greenest, most fragrant tea leaves Tashi has ever seen or smelled.

This poignant tale is filled with lush, descriptive language as fragrant as the mysterious Cloud Tea.  And Juan Winjgaard's detailed, gorgeous illustrations capture the emotion and heart of the story, and so perfectly aided my daughters' understanding of key parts of the story. This is one of those perfect marriages of text and illustrations.
As I read this book aloud to my daughters, I was struck by the realistic portrayal of Tashi's and her mother's life. The writing is so descriptive I could feel the morning chill that burned away to "cruel" heat, the fear in Tashi as she listened to her mother cough, the fear of no money available for a doctor, the weight of the basket she dragged to the tea plantation, her crushing disappointment at not being allowed to pick tea in place of her mother. (You know it's descriptive when your children try to breathe in the tea clouds as you read.) And I marvelled at Winjgaard's talent for capturing all the emotional nuances of the story. My daughters sat enthralled throughout.


Other reviews:
Hope Is the Word
Pink Me

Picture Book Read-Alouds, Inspired by Folk Tales

Lucia and the Light
Written by Phyllis Root
Illustrated by Mary GrandPre
Picture Book, Ages 4 and up
Published by Candlewick Press in 2006


Inspired by a Norse folk tale, this is the compelling story of a little girl who bravely journeys up the mountain to rescue the sun, in order to bring light and warmth back to the land.
My girls loved this story, so much so that they asked if we can check it out of the library again. (It's due back today, and we're on our second renewal, so we can't keep it longer.) Even Susanna sat completely enthralled by the story. (She was the first one to spot the shadow of a troll, a portent of things to come, made by the shadows cast from hanging baskets in the family's cabin.)
The pictures are luminously beautiful. The medium looks like pastel, but I'm not sure. However they're done, they have an ethereal softness to them that is very dreamy. The way GrandPre captures light is amazing. The book is a beautiful marriage of art and text.
This is our first encounter with both Phyllis Root's and Mary GrandPre's work, and we will definitely check out other books by these talented women.

The Greatest Treasure

Written and illustrated by Demi

Picture Book, Ages 4 and up
Published by Scholastic Press in 1998


Inspired by a Chinese folk tale, this is the story of two fathers, a poor one who enjoys life, and a rich one obsessed with his money. Baffled, annoyed and perhaps a tad bit envious of the seemingly care-free life of the poor family, the rich man decides to give the poor man some money to worry about. This is a wonderful allegory about finding balance.
My girls were familiar with the so talented Demi from her book The Empty Pot, which they love and frequently request to be read.
They liked this story too, maybe not quite as much as The Empty Pot, but they have asked it to be read several times since we checked it out from the library.
(I want to get her books about Gandhi, Muhammad, Buddha, and Mother Teresa next.)


Both these books were checked out of the library.

Book Review: Wind Child by Shirley Rousseau Murphy; illustrated by Leo, Diane, and Lee Dillon

Wind Child
Written by Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon and Lee Dillon
Ages 4 and up

"She wanted to know the winds' secrets and what they shouted when they sped across the sky. She yearned to fly as the winds flew, to feel the grasses brush her toes, to leap high above wind-tossed waters."

Resshie grows up ignorant of her true parents, but with a strange longing and affinity for wind. She supports herself by weaving cloth, and soon her cloth is the most coveted in the land for its special unearthly qualities. But Resshie, in weaving cloth for others, realizes she is lonely and wants a husband like other girls. Not liking anyone in her village, Resshie sets out to make her perfect companion, with imperfect results.

This story reads like a Greek myth and fairy tale rolled up into one. The text flows beautifully. My girls sat silent and rapt as the story unfolded. Each picture has a dreamy, windswept feel to it, and each contains the omnipresence of wind: hair blowing, dresses blowing. And the conclusion is perfect.

This book seems to be out of print, but you should be able to find it at your library. I highly encourage it, especially if you or your children like myths and fairy tales.



Book published in 1999 by HarperChildrens for Harper Collins
This copy borrowed from the library.

St. Patrick's Day, Tomie dePaola-Style

Based on old Irish folktales told to him by his Irish grandfather, here are two stories about shameless, lazy Jamie O'Rourke -"the laziest man in all Ireland"- that are strictly for fun and giggles, written by the marvelous Tomie dePaola.

In Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato, Jamie's industrious wife Eileen has prepared and planted the praties (potatoes) that they will need to see them through the winter, without the help of her lazy husband. When Eileen hurts her back harvesting the potatoes, and ends up in bed, lazy Jamie imagines himself starving through the winter. On his way to church to confess his sins in case he should die of starvation, he chances on a leprechaun. After catching him and being granted one wish, Jamie's wish gets away from him.

In Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka, Jamie is left behind to tend to the chores while his wife Eileen is away visiting family. Of course, being Jamie, he does nothing but please himself and make messes, with some help from his friends. Much to his shock, he finds upon waking that the house is clean. Jamie determines to find out who is doing the cleaning. That's how he meets the Pooka, and learns a lesson. Or does he?

Read these stories with an Irish brogue and your children will find it hilarious. Chances are they will find it hilarious even without the brogue, but it makes it ever so much more fun.

What a lot of giggling my girls (well, the older two) did during these stories.* When we were done, my seven-year-old (who has avidly read and re-read Mr. dePaola's Fairmount Avenue autobiographical series) sighed and said, "Boy, Tomie sure writes good books!" Yes, he does.

There are no lessons learned by Jamie at the end of the books; he doesn't change his stripes and become caring or conscientious. I certainly don't think every story needs to have a lesson. (More on that in another post.) But kids, being kids, will always look for meaning, and I've found that kids learn the lessons for Jamie. Even while they giggle at his antics and foolishness, they shake their heads and say, "He shouldn't be like that. His poor wife, having to do all the work."

Later in the day I overheard a discussion between my two oldest about Jamie having a lot to learn and his wife being too nice to put up with him. My six-year-old said -in reference to his wife's goodness in the face of his selfishness- "Well...sometimes you should do nice things for people, even if they don't deserve it." Hmmm...now if I could only get her to apply that with her sisters...

*(A word of caution: my three-year-old thought the pooka looked scary -'though really he wasn't. And she frequently asked why he was mad, because his expression looks quite evil sometimes. But he isn't; he only does good things. We had to keep reassuring her.)