Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham, illustrated by Juan Wijngaard - review

Stunningly atmospheric, this simple, dramatic tale reads a bit like Jorge Luis Borges for kids - realistic and immediate, but with a drop of magic and luck. Tashi lives with her mother, a tea picker in the foothills of the Himalayas. Their day is described in beautifully descriptive sensory terms, from the sweet scent of their morning tea to the "blurred red globe" of the sun on their walk home from work.

Every day, Tashi shares her lunch with the monkeys who frequent the tea fields. When her mother becomes too sick to work, Tashi tries to take over the picking, so that there will be money for a doctor, but she is too small to manage the heavy basket and reach the top of the tea bushes. Despondent, she takes refuge under a tree with the monkeys and cries until she falls asleep. She awakes to find that her kindness has been repaid - the monkeys have filled her basket with the rarest wild tea, the tea that the Royal Tea Taster will pay for in gold, enabling Tashi and her mother to live out their days in peace and health. It's magic realism, Himalayan style.

In an Author's Note, Mal and Elspeth say that they came up with this story after having read many tales involving tea from the Himalayas. They do not say that they've traveled to the region, but I've been to tea plantations in India, and I find it hard to believe that they could so sensitively describe the light, the mist, the way the day progresses without having been there. I could almost smell the tea growing.

The ink and gouache illustrations are likewise marvelous. Juan Wijngaard has a lovely light touch, and great dexterity in capturing the muted colors of early morning, the tea fields in the strong midday sun, and dappled shade alike. His fine-line ink drawings are breathtaking. I'm looking for more from him as we speak.