Never has a blurb on a cover so encapsulated my feelings about a book but Carey Pietsch, artist for The Adventure Zone books, has summed up The Tea Dragon Tapestry so succinctly that everything you need to know about it is right there. If you’ve read the previous two Tea Dragon books you must read this lovely conclusion to the trilogy. If you’ve never heard about tea dragons and the quote intrigues you, here are my reviews for the first two books, The Tea Dragon Society and The Tea Dragon Festival.
Everything that made the first two Tea Dragon books so wonderful is on full display once again in this final book of the trilogy. The beautiful inclusivity that O’Neill brings to their writing, the heart warming stories, and the soft, gentle artwork, make this trilogy perfect for anyone who wants to spend time in a kinder and more magical world than ours. Would highly recommend as gifts to any kiddos in your life that could use books where the main characters are a variety of colors/species, gender identities, sexual orientations, and different levels of ability.
I was going to use this book for the bingo square ‘Home’ but ran out of review energy towards the end of October. It is an excellent fit for the category as The Tea Dragon Tapestry is all about finding home and community, the nerves of possibly leaving home, the recognition of how life changes due to having a permanent home, and how changing locations can change perceptions of what one desires in a home.
Taking place after the events of the two previous volumes, The Tea Dragon Tapestry returns to the village of the first book. Greta and Minette have continued their close friendship, becoming an important support for each other. Greta has advanced in her blacksmithing and a famous blacksmith has come to evaluate her for an apprenticeship, creating a quandary of what she can craft to impress him. Her tea dragon, Ginseng, is still mourning the death of it’s previous owner and Greta is feeling inadequate as a tea dragon caregiver. While finding how she fits into village life, Minette continues to be troubled by her memory loss and the identity struggle it has caused. A package from her parents, containing a partially finished tapestry she had been working on, sparks something within. Rinn and Aedhan have come down from their mountain top home to sell herbs and plants, as well as visit Rinn’s Uncle Erik. Erik and Hesekiel’s home has continued to be a gathering place for Greta and Minette. This book ties everyone together from books one and two with Erik and Hesekiel being the through line that the overall main story winds around.
I love these books so much and dearly wish tea dragons were real!
