Cloud Tea Monkeys - Hardcover

Mal Peet; Elspeth Graham

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1406300926 ISBN 13: 9781406300925

Publisher: Walker Books, 2010

Synopsis

Monkeys come to the rescue of a struggling family in this traditional tale from a Carnegie Medal winner. Tashi lives in a tiny village below the tea plantations where her mother earns a living. One day her mother falls ill, and Tashi must pick tea to earn the money for a doctor. But she is too small to reach the tender shoots and the cruel Overseer sends her away empty-handed. Tashi needs a miracle. Then, on the mountains high above the plantation where only monkeys live, something extraordinary happens that will change her life for ever...Based on a centuries-old legend of tea-picking monkeys, "Cloud Tea Monkeys" is a richly told tale full of vivid characters: a heartless Overseer, an enigmatic Royal Tea-Taster and, in a faraway land, an Empress with a liking for tea.

About this title

About the Author:

Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham live in Devon, in a house not too far from the sea. Elspeth writes in a room on the ground floor while Mal writes in the attic. Sometimes they meet in the middle to write books like this one. It is Elspeth who finds the seeds the stories grow from. She found the seed for Cloud Tea Monkeys while working on a book about tea. Mal is the author of teenage novels Keeper (9781406303933), Exposure (9781406306491) and Carnegie Medal-winning Tamar (9781406303940). Juan Wijngaard, whose parents are Dutch, was born in South America. He came to London in 1970 and studied Illustration at the Royal College of Art. Since then he has produced over thirty books for children, including Green Finger House, his first book and winner of the Mother Goose Award in 1981, Shakepeare's Globe (9780744592795), Tales of Wonder and Magic (9780744581478)and the Kate Greenaway Medal-winning Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady. He lives with his family in New Mexico, USA.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3—Tashi's mother labors on a tea plantation in the shadow of the Himalayas. One day she is too ill to get out of bed. Tashi knows that without her day's wages, they won't have money for a doctor, but without medical care her mother won't get well enough to work. "The problem went around and around. It was like a snake with its tail in its mouth, and Tashi was frightened by it." The child tries to pick tea herself, but she is too small to reach the tops of the plants where the tender new leaves grow. She retreats in tears, only to be comforted by a troop of monkeys she has befriended. And then the magical element of the story emerges: the monkeys climb into the mountains and pick the rarest and most sought-after tea leaves in the world. The Royal Tea Taster samples the leaves in Tashi's basket and pays her a handsome sum, with the promise of more in the future. This story, inspired by tales of tea-picking monkeys of the Himalayas, would be merely pleasant were it not for Wijngaard's expressive, richly detailed ink-and-gouache illustrations. Tashi's solemn face as she comforts her bedridden mother, the dynamic depictions of the Tea Taster swishing tea and spitting out a mouthful, the play of light through the branches under which the monkeys eat fruit, and even the delicate tracery of a decorative pattern on the bottom of each page all contribute to the thoughtful bookmaking.—Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Walker Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1406300926
• ISBN 13: 9781406300925
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 56
• Illustrator: Juan Wijngaard