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Reviewed by:
  • Cloud Tea Monkey
  • Jeannette Hulick
Peet, Mal. Cloud Tea Monkey; by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham; illus. by Juan Wijngaard. Candlewick, 2010 50p. ISBN 978-0-7636-4453-6 $15.99 R Gr. 3-5

In this original tale set "in the past" in, a note suggests, the tea-picking regions of the Himalayas, a young girl, Tashi, must find a way to help when her sick mother cannot pick the tea leaves whose sale supports the family. Though Tashi tries to pick tea herself, she is too small, and her futile efforts are belittled by the pompous [End Page 349] overseer. Her fortune changes when the monkeys she has previously befriended run off with her big tea basket and return bearing fragrant green tea leaves, which Tashi offers to the visiting Royal Tea Taster. Enchanted by the rare "cloud tea" from high in the mountains, the Taster buys it at once with a bag of gold and arranges to return each year to purchase more. Peet and Graham's polished narrative is carefully shaped and the fluid, piquant language ("Then the women came, their white headscarves glowing in the half-dark, their clothes bright patches of scarlet, green, and indigo") makes it a natural choice for reading aloud, while the accessible vocabulary, large typeface, and relatively short length also keep it easily within reach of mid- to upper elementary readers. Wijngaard's elegant artwork (executed in ink and gouache) alternates between full-page or double-page paintings in color and monochromatic ink line drawings; both are executed with a precise clarity that never descends into stiffness. This will especially resonate with children whose families live on the economic edge, and the "helpful monkey" solution is both pleasingly fantastical and gratifying. A brief author's note is included.

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