I have seen the Tea Dragon Festival described as a gentle fantasy and that description is perfectly apt. The art here is beautiful and the story is gentle and quiet. I typically wouldn’t buy a graphic novel geared toward younger readers for my academic library, but I am probably going to make an exception and recommend this one, largely because I think there will be interest in a graphic novel with a non-binary protagonist and an important secondary character who is deaf and communicates using sign language.

I’d give these books five stars on illustrations alone, but the stories are adorable too. I’m glad this was a prequel because I was able to see how the Society was created and some of the younger versions of the characters. This one included sign language, which was inclusive and neat to see applied in a graphic novel format!

You'll see me with a tattoo of the scenery from this series at some point, I'm 100% sure of it.

Katie O'Neill is an auto-buy. Her stories are so heartfelt and the art is just absolutely stunning. Although geared for younger children, I still would recommend this graphic novel (and all of her works) to people of all ages. Reading a Katie O'Neill graphic novel feels like getting a hug, or sitting in a cozy chair sipping some calming tea. I cannot express how much I love her work,

This book takes you onto a travel to the tea dragon society and the festival they are planning. This book runs against everything you as an adult reader might normally expect from a book like a strong plot line, a conflict or a mystery that needs solving, all these kind of things.

You will not find anything of this in this book, instead you live through a moment in time that happens before during and after the tea dragon festival.

You meet an interesting community living and thriving in the woods sharing their place with the tea dragons. There are ever so interesting diverse individual characters and visitors popping in on a quest of their own and the main character finds some answers during this time of the tea dragon festival.

When I was finished I was pondering if this book was not too soft, too positive. But, I also had to admit, it took me to a place where I just could rest and be and enjoy this moment living in this world that unfolded in front of my eyes. A place where you can imagine people living peacefully alongside each other, caring for each other and cooperation being the way that each one has agreed upon. Imagination is the place where it all starts.

This is a book that is best cherished in physical form, and owned, so you can return to it as many times as you wish.

The art in this book is amazing. It has a very specific colour palate which I loved. The thought, love and care that has gone into each of the many frames/images speaks for itself, I could feel it coming out of each page, and I was reading an eARC from the publisher in return of an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and katie O'neill for sending me an arc of this graphic novel! I really enjoyed it, it made me smile and laugh and I want another one! Can we get a third one?? 5/5 stars!(:

One of my favorite graphic novels is The Tea Dragon Society. When I saw that this was available for request on NetGalley, I jumped the chance to request this book. The magic, the dragons, everything about this book made this book such a fast read. One of my favorite things about this book was the fact that it used sign language as part of the storytelling. It's something that was so beautiful to see. Shows all the diversity and inclusion, besides sexuality.

The illustrations of this story was just as beautiful as The Tea Dragon Society. Just eye popping art. One of the reasons that I have been very into Katie O'Neil's books.

Overall, I wanted to try and read all of Katie O'Neil's books. This just upped that edge a little bit more.

This graphic novel was precious and wholesome and cute and lovely and diverse and I could literally go on and on about how wonderful it was. I think anyone can read it,people of all ages. And the art style was so beautiful! I now need to read everything by Katie O'Neill.
Thank you to netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed The Tea Dragon Festival even more than I enjoyed The Tea Dragon Society—and I enjoyed The Tea Dragon Society A LOT. I think part of what made this new addition to the Tea Dragon world even better than the first was its length. This graphic novel is nearly twice as long as the first and the story really benefited from that. Since The Tea Dragon Festival was longer we got more world building that helped explained any of the gaps left at the end of the first book.

The Tea Dragon Society included a diverse cast of characters and the diversity continues even more in this book. O’Neill creates an inclusive world that feels almost effortless. For example, in this book a deaf character, Lesa, is introduced. The main character, Rinn, explains that everyone in their village learned sign language to communicate with Lesa. I loved that the village was supportive of Lesa in this way. The sign language was also well drawn, with an excellent explanation guide to what color and shape speech bubbles would indicate what type of sign language in the beginning of the book.

The main character Rinn also used they/them pronouns. There were no moments when Rinn wasn’t accepted by their family and village. But I did like seeing their curiosity over whether dragons who shape shift between human and dragon forms could also shape shift between male and female forms. I thought it added an excellent layer to their character and how they felt about their own identity.

The Tea Dragon Festival is a beautiful graphic novel. Similar to the first Tea Dragon novel, it has messages of love and acceptance, and of finding a place where you belong. Additionally, the art is absolutely stunning. I could flip through this book just to enjoy the art alone. I highly recommend this inclusive, adorable story. You won’t regret picking it up—although you may regret that tea dragons aren’t real because they’re really cute and you’ll probably wish you had one.

Love this! I would demand more comics in the series!!!
Such a great work.
Thank you for the opportunity to read it early. I'm sure the printed version is 100 times better.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was SQUEALING the whole time that I was reading this because it is so gosh darn cute. It melted my heart. There are such wholesome messages of diversity, acceptance, and love within.

Side Note: The grumpy mountain chamomile tea dragon IS me. I want one of my own.

Link to GoodReads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2908669410

E-galley provided by Oni Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Quotes and pinions in this review are based off an uncorrected proof

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"Just because something comes easily to you, does not mean it has no value. You find it effortless because you love it, and that is why it is your gift."

So something I wasn't expecting was that this book is not only a companion book, but also a prequel. It has some characters form The Tea Dragon Society from when they were younger (It was awesome).

SO the first best thing about this book is the characters. If you thought you loved the characters from the first book??? Well,get ready all over again! These characters are sweet, adorable, and so very entertaining. They are the main reason why this book is as wholesome as it is. I have to say that Erik, Mr. Stretching-My-Arms-Above-My-Head-Always, maybe my favorite. Again. You can't possibly blame me he is adorable. My runner-up is literally everyone else in this book, I love everyone so darn much.

The ART! THE ART! Yes, its as gorgeous as you imagine! The dragons look so cute and the village looks amazing! I really love this art style, I would buy a million art prints in this style because I think it just radiates comfort, happiness, and beauty. It's a very aesthetic book with an amazing color palette. It's also an art style that makes all food look amazing and I get so hungry just thinking about it

I would be remiss in not mentioning the level of representation in this fantasy setting. Characters using ASL casually in the village was amazing to see. I get so upset that ASL isn't more widely taught in the US and I think having it in a book like this would really spark people's drive to learn it. Also, having so many brown people is just an awesome treat that I will never not love. It's something I loved about the first book too. Honestly, books like this just bring so much joy to my heart!

Finally, the story. I really love how simple the book was along with the emotional places it goes. This plot is far from complex, but takes its time in developing different themes of family, friendships, and dreams. I really loved that it had these beautiful quotes that made you think as well as pages that just made you smile.

TL;DR If you liked the first one, you'll love this one. If you haven't read either??? Get on it! It's sweet, wholesome, and will heal your childhood heart! Also, cute dragons!

OH MY GAWD MY HEART!!! I love this so much. This is the first story I've read by Katie O'Neil. I loved every single minute of this. It was adorable, precious and everything I love. I don't even know what to say about this book, other than EVERY ONE NEEDS TO READ IT!!!

I don't think I can gush about Katie O'Neill's work enough - it always leaves me feeling hopeful, inspired, and with a good dose of the warm and fuzzies. I think this is my favourite yet - her work seems to keep getting better. Rinn and Aedhan are such wonderful characters and I wouldn't mind seeing even more from them - they will be living in my heart from now on.

Now excuse me whilst I go buy everything Katie O'Neill has ever done...

The Tea Dragon Festival is a super sweet graphic novel that basically just feels like joy in the form of a book. The story follows Rinn, a non-binary forager who loves to help others by finding ingredients in the forest, and a dragon named Aedhan who wakes from an accidental eighty-year slumber to find that the world is not quite as he remembers it. This is a companion story to The Tea Dragon Society, but I read it without having checked out the first book and believe it works perfectly well as a standalone.

The art in this story is so soft and gorgeous, and its story is equally sweet. It was very relaxing and just... pure? If you're looking for a chill read, I can fully recommend this - the whole book felt like a warm hug and it's so beautiful that I enjoyed simply sitting and looking at the illustrations. I also enjoyed the diversity - the main character, Rinn, is black and non-binary, and there is a deaf character, meaning that sign language is also included in the book.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed The Tea Dragon Society. It was lovely, relaxing and cute as a button, and I'd fully recommend it.

I adored The Tea Dragon Society, but I think I might actually love The Tea Dragon Festival even more. The graphics are amazing and I loved the story line of it. This story features a character who is either hard of hearing or deaf and sign language is used throughout it. I found this to be unique and I loved seeing it included.

Another great entry in the Tea Dragon series, I want to have one of every Tea Dragon, I love them so. This was an interesting look at how they fit in their world with bigger "real" dragons. I loved that the Tea Dragons were like village cats that everyone cared for. As always, the effortless inclusion in the book, creating a world rich with diverse characters, was a deep breath of fresh air. This entry covers gender orientation, homosexuality, lots of different body types and skin colors and also a deaf character. So happy to disappear in the world of Tea Dragons again, I can't wait until my next visit.

What an utterly delightful story, and what a gift to the world is Katie O’Neill!

The Tea Dragon Festival is a companion-prequel to The Tea Dragon Society and it follows Rinn (they/them), who is an aspiring cook, and a Dragon (not a small tea dragon!) who’s been asleep for too long. We also see a young Erik and Hesekiel in their bounty hunters days and they’re just as cute as you might imagine if you’ve read TTDS. There’s also a side character who uses Sign Language and the whole village has learned SL because of her and it’s like, no big deal to them and it was so endearing to see.

As always the author has created a rich and inclusive world that radiates the positivity we so desperately need sometimes with escapism nowadays. This is both great for a younger audience and for everyone else who’s just looking to read a wonderful diverse story and look at seriously cute art. I can’t recommend it enough!

This was another gorgeous story by Katie O'Neill. I fell in love with The Tea Dragon Society and am even more in love with this book. The illustrations are beautiful and enchanting and the storyline is captivating. I want more Tea Dragon books!

Title: The Tea Dragon Festival

Author: Katie O' Neill

Genres: Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Middle Grade

Publication date: 2019

Number of pages: 136

Previous book in the series: The Tea Dragon Society



Synopsis:

Rinn has grown up with the Tea Dragons that inhabit their village, but stumbling across a real dragon turns out to be a different matter entirely! Aedhan is a young dragon who was appointed to protect the village but fell asleep in the forest eighty years ago. With the aid of Rinn’s adventuring uncle Erik and his partner Hesekiel, they investigate the mystery of his enchanted sleep, but Rinn’s real challenge is to help Aedhan come to terms with feeling that he cannot get back the time he has lost.



Story:

The Tea Dragon Festival is the second book in a graphic novel series. I haven't read the first book but I did not feel that that impaired my enjoyment of this story at all. This book follows a young girl named Rinn who wishes to be a cook. She lives in a village where there are small dragons, named Tea Dragons. One day she goes out to collect mushrooms and she finds a dragon, called Aedhan. Aedhan was sent to the village to protect it and to watch over festivals but somehow he fell asleep for eighty years! We follow them as Aedhan meets her family and the village, we discover why Aedhan fell asleep for a long time and as the characters help Aedhan to come to terms with the time that he missed.



Diversity:

This book was just an adorable and delightful read. It featured American Sign Language as the head cook in the village is deaf. It is mentioned that dragons can change gender and it is alluded to that two of the characters may be in a male-male relationship. I loved the representation in this book and as a book that is aimed at the middle grade market, it is lovely to have such diversity in literature for younger readers.



Graphics:

The illustrations in this book were absolutely beautiful. I stopped and admired more than one of the panels to look at how the sky was drawn and at the features of the whimsical animals.



Characters:

I loved all of the characters in this book. It was a cute and friendly story. Rinn and Aedhan were friendly and well-developed. I was even hoping for a romance between them (which may or may not have been alluded to towards the end of the book). Rinn's grandmother was sweet and Lesa, the head cook was kind and creative. Hesekiel, a Sylke was comical and interesting and the tea dragons were so cute and cool.



Favourite quote:

"Just because something comes easily to you, does not mean it has no value. You find it effortless because you love it, and that is why it is your gift."


Final thoughts:

I loved this book! It was a cute and quick read with beautiful graphics and a wonderful story. The only negative is that I wish that it was longer! One part of the story was shown and over very quickly so I felt that that should have been expanded upon. I would also loved to see what happens to these characters next. More please!



Star rating: 5/5 stars


*An advanced copy of this book was kindly sent to me to review, however, all opinions are my own.

So I randomly decided to pick up the first book in this series which was The Tea Dragon Society. I adored it! So when I saw the second book was on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance at reading it. Well I have to say I ended up enjoying this one a lot more.

So this story takes place before the events of The Tea Dragon Society. So I was excited to get some backstory. You follow Rinn in this story. She is the niece of Erik from the first story. She has recently discovered a real dragon whose mission was to protect the village but ended up falling into a sleeping curse and was asleep for 80 years. Rinn decides to help the real dragon feel comfortable and make up for lost time. I was so excited to be introduced to all these new characters plus, Hesekiel and Erik are also in this story. I loved getting to know all these new characters plus learning more about the old characters. They are all so unique and each have their own special talents. It just really warmed my heart reading this story. I just thought it was so much sweeter than the first one.

I also really love the artwork for this book. I think Katie has such a wonderful art style. It's just so cute and fun. The artwork is always very colorful which just really adds to the overall vibes. Each character is so unique and I just love how they look. You can also tell she put so much detail into the locations. Also can we talk about how precious the tea dragons are. Omg they are honestly the cutest things ever. I love how they also have their own unique personalities. There was one in this book that had a bit of sas to it and it had me cracking up. I wish tea dragons were real because I would love to own one. I honestly would love to buy a print from Katie of one of the tea dragons and hang it up in my house.

Lastly, I want to mention how I enjoyed that some of the characters would speak in sign language and voice. I just thought that was so inclusive. I haven't seen that done before in a comic so I really enjoyed that aspect. I would love to see that be done more in books.

Overall I thought this was such an adorable story. It honestly made me so happy reading this. I loved all the characters, new and old. I always enjoy seeing the different tea dragons with their unique personalities. If you're looking for a cute read that will warm your heart, I highly recommend it. Plus the artwork is just so well done and just really pleasing to the eye. I can't see how you'd dislike this book.