Book Review: 'The Tea Party in the Woods' by Akiko Miyakoshi

✰✰✰✰ One morning a little girl noticed that her father forgot to take along a pie to Grandma’s house. Thinking she can catch up easily, Kikko offers to deliver it. As she follows her father’s footsteps in the newly fallen snow, she falls and crushes the box. She decides to pick herself up and keep going though. She follows her father to a house she’s never seen before. Not sure what to do, she peers inside and is met with a magical sight. Something special happens when she is invited inside. It is an afternoon that Kikko will never forget.

The Bottom Line: Beautifully illustrated in charcoal, pencil, and colored ink, this imaginative story has a dreamy, eerie, vintage quality to it due to the monochromatic palette. Additionally, the spotlights of color tied to the main character draw the reader's focus in. Fans of enchanting tales will enjoy reading this with their child ages 4 - 8.

Details: The Tea Party in the Woods written & illustrated by Akiko Miyakoshi. English translation published by Kids Can Press in 2015. Originally published as Mori no Oku no Ochakai e by Kaisei-Sha Publishing C. Ltd. in 2010. 32 p. ISBN: 978-1-77138-107-9