I remember hearing a lot of buzz around The Tea Dragon Society last year, particularly on Booktube, and it's always been in the back of my mind to pick it up and read it, but I hadn't gotten around to it... yet. When the opportunity to review The Tea Dragon Festival came up, I couldn't turn it down because everything I knew about the first book led me to believe it would be beautiful and whimsical and pretty much something I'd love.

And was a I right.

The Tea Dragon Festival is a wonderful tale of finding your place in your community and helping others as Rinn stumbles across a dragon who's been asleep for 80 years and feels out of place. Rinn is, in turn, trying to figure out their place within the community they've grown up in and together they begin to make sense of themselves and their world. Alongside Rinn and Aedhan, there's Rinn's uncle, Erik, and his partner Hesekiel, who are also finding their path, and all of this is set in a charming community village that's as naturally diverse as one we would come across in our daily lives.

That's one of the things that struck me most about this beautifully illustrated graphic novel - it's diversity. Everyone we meet has their own story, path and potential and the diverse range of characters never feels forced or like characters have been given traits simply to say 'Hey, I'm a diverse character.' There are characters who are on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, characters who are deaf (and there's an awesome little intro on how to read the signed conversation in the graphic novel to distinguish it from spoken conversation), old characters, young characters, a whole community of vegetarians... and of course, the tea dragons, themselves who have personalities of their own!

The storytelling is magical, and that's in part to the gorgeous art style, but also the setting and the way characters come together. You can't help but be drawn into the world. It's utterly charming and a wonderful way to spend an afternoon curled up on the couch reading.

My heart was completely stolen by the Tea Dragons - tiny dragons that represent different plants that can be used to make tea, and they all have their own little personalities that jump off the page. What's not to love about dragons and celebrating the drinking of tea?

I loved this instalment so much I immediately purchased a copy of The Tea Dragon Society online so I can read it. (I may have also shared a few pages of The Tea Dragon Festival with my class to get their thoughts on it... and they've been bugging me to continue reading it to them ever since!)

In a world full of books tackling heavy topics, this is a ray of sunshine that deftly handles the real world in beautiful way.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review



I love the <i>The Tea Dragon Society</i> so I jumped at the chance to read this. Katie O'Neill's art is so beautiful - whimsical, sweet and surprisingly full of hidden details. This story follows Rinn, a non-binary young villager who is training to apprentice as a village cook. What they are really good at however, is foraging. As a forager myself, I really loved seeing that in a book! The village the story centres around is very remote and cannot rely on outside supplies so everyone finds what they need from the forest and mountains, consequently the village is famed for its cookery - more or less a sacred occupation there. Rinn is foraging one day when they discover a sleeping dragon in a derelict hut. Things progress from there as Rinn befriends, Ahdren, the dragon, and two familiar (if you've read the first book) bounty hunters turn up to track whatever put him to sleep. This book is beautifully diverse - many different skin tones and ethnicities (and occasionally species) present on the page. One of the characters is deaf and the entire village uses ASL to communicate with her, which is shown on the page. I'd never seen that in a graphic novel before. The bounty hunters are a M/M couple and many background characters are also part of the rainbow spectrum of identity and sexuality. And of course the tea dragons themselves are present on almost every page.

I loved this book so much and I really just want an entire series of these books. Highly recommend and more please.

A brilliant and wonderfully illustrated book that I couldn't put down.
The story is sweet and well written, the graphic part is amazing.
It's the first book I read by these authors and it won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Gentle and inclusive fantasy story with absolutely GORGEOUS illustrations. Prior familiarity with the series or the author is not needed at all.

This graphic novel is honestly the cutest and most inclusive book I have read. This follows a girl named Rinn who discovers a real dragon who fell asleep for 80 years and also follows Erik and Hesekiel as they come back home to investigate the mystery of his enchanted sleep.

I loved how there was sign language in this book and I think it was really well done and explained. I valued the information at the back of the book about sign language and where to locate more information and I think it's such a good way to show others what it is like. This book is just honestly such an important novel for young readers to read.

The art style for this book is breathtaking and all the colours are so vibrant and wonderful. The concept of the Tea Dragons is such an original idea and I am forever obsessed with it. This book will give you such a cosy feeling and is perfect for those rainy days.

I had received a copy of The Tea Dragon Society in my Owl Crate subscription box, and fell in love - it was such a sweet, calming book, one that I enjoyed immensely and even read a couple of times in one day. I knew there had to be more, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it to the release date of The Tea Dragon Festival; I'm incredibly grateful to the publish for the opportunity to read it sooner!

The Tea Dragon Festival was a delight to read from start to finish. The characters were endearing and unique, I (again) loved that there were LGBT characters, the tea dragon mythos is incredibly well crafted and interesting - I could read a whole book about different types of tea dragons! - and I love that the characters use a combination of ASL and spoken word to communicate. O'Neill has a wonderful way with her art that even when there are no words involved at all, the reader still feels so much. It's truly a world that you can lose yourself in, and I'm very thankful to O'Neill for sharing that with us all.

This was, yet again, another adorable graphic novel from Katie O’Neill! I did not enjoy this one quite as much as the first, but it was still meaningful and beautiful as all O’Neill’s books seem to be. Her books just seem to always bring joy through her words as well as her illustrations.

I absolutely love the usage of sign language in this graphic novel as well. The tea dragons are adorable and the introduction of a new character/dragon was great. This prequel is set before the events of the Tea Dragon Society book and both books are worth checking out!!

Thank you so much to Net Galley and the publishers for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this!

I absolutely adored Katie O'Neill's "The Tea Dragon society" when I read it earlier this year, so I was thrilled for the chance to read her latest addition to the series. Picking up "The Tea Dragon Festival" was like returning home to one of my favorite fantasy worlds of all time. As a long-time lover of dragons, I'm obsessed with O'Neill's warm yet gentle take on them. She has created a beautifully illustrated series filled with a charming and diverse cast of characters that has quickly made its way into my all-time favorites.

This was an adorable prequel to the Tea Dragon Society. Im so happy we got to see one of the tea master Hese and his partner Eriks bounty hunting adventures. We also follow Eriks niece Rinn and the dragon she discovers sleeping in the woods while foraging for her village. I loved the sweet relationship that develops between them. The story has this wonderful message about finding ones passion and where they belongs. I really appreciated the sign language representation and how the entire village learned it when one of their girls was born without hearing. The talk about the shapeshifting dragon clan being able to change gender made me very happy. I absolutely love the art style and with the festival going on we got some mezmerizing scenes. This is probably aimed at a much younger audience as it doesnt have much writing, but I still adored it. Its just an overall super heartwarming story that anyone can enjoy.

I really enjoyed this. I think that the art and the stories are so cute. I read and loved the first Tea Dragon book and even bought the card game. This sequel did not let me down! I think that the sign language is cute. And I did notice that this book was a little more grown up. All in all I thought it was great and will definitely be getting the paper version for my shelf!

NetGalley provided me with an Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my review. All thoughts are my own.

THE TEA DRAGON FESTIVAL by Katie O'Neill is just as adorable as the first volume. This beautiful world of tea dragons is radiant and alluring. The colors and vibrant and full with life. This graphic novel is one of my all-time favorites now, just like THE TEA DRAGON SOCIETY. I totally want to see more from this world. Imagine this in an animated adaptation? Sign me up.

Just as delightful as The Tea Dragon Society, The Tea Dragon Festival is a lovely prequel! I'm not sure I've ever seen American Sign Language used in a graphic novel before, which in retrospect is kind of crazy since comics are such a visual medium; it's one thing for a novel to tell you that a person is using sign language, but a completely different thing for it to actually be shown. The fact that O'Neill always includes LGBTQIA+ and POC characters is also amazing, let alone that some of her characters are both. I can not suggest this book enough!

This was a very cute read. The artwork and the colors are pleasing to the eyes and the bubbles are easy to follow. I love that there is helpful notes for the reader and a "who is who" page at the beginning, but also an extract from Alpine Tea Dragon Handbook and more info about tea dragons & dragons at the end.

It's a very inclusive illustrated book, you won't be disappointed! And it's super easy to read and connect with the lovely characters. The little tea dragons were so freaking adorable!

I just wish it was longer!

Gorgeous illustrations and a sweet, funny story - a great follow -up to the Tea Dragon Society. Loved it,

I got an ARC of this book.

I live and breathe tea dragons. They are by far one of the best things I have ever seen and I want more. I want a world where tea dragons are a real thing. That being said, this book was the prequel to the book that introduced me to tea dragons. It was perfection.

Not only were there tea dragons, but there were people of color, sign language, and gay people. It is wonderful to just see diversity happening in a way that seems natural. It didn't feel like the gay characters were thrown in for flavor and their gayness just was. Their gayness wasn't a plot point or ever really discussed. I just knew that it was there and that was enough. They were more than just gay, they were people and adventurers. It was perfect

The art is gorgeous. I would like O'Neil to continue creating forever. The colors, the images, they worked so well together with the story. They were just done wonderfully. I wanted to look into this world and never stop. 

Highly recommend for people that like tea, people who like cute things, and people who are looking for wholesome things. I even found out there is a card game (I will be getting this game soon. I can't imagine a cuter game to bring to the all ages game night I go to)! This universe is everything I have ever looked for in a graphic novel and in books for younger readers.

This was so adorable! I've liked everything that I've read by Katie O'Neill so far, but I think this title in particular benefited from being a little bit longer than her previous works. Her stories are always fun and magical, but usually I feel like they are a little bit too rushed for me personally, but this one really had the space to paint an incredibly vivid picture. There are a few characters from the previous Tea Dragon story as well as some fun new faces [including non-binary and deaf representation!]. The Tea Dragons are adorable as always, and the introduction of full size dragons was interesting as well. Overall just a really cute story, definitely a good read if you want something bright and fun that will make you feel good after you've read it!

When aspiring cook Rinn stumbles across a young, sleeping dragon while foraging in the forest, she is surprised to learn that the dragon--Aedham--has been asleep for eighty years. She brings him back to her small mountain village, where Aedham quickly makes friends with the other villagers as they prepare for the Tea Dragon Festival.

"The Tea Dragon Festival" is a beautifully illustrated slice-of-life fantasy story set in the same world as O'Neill's first graphic novel, "The Tea Dragon Society". This book has made me want a Tea Dragon of my own even more than I already did!

I only have one word for this boko.
REPRESENTATION.
I love Katie O'Neill and her art, and I adored the Tea Dragon Society, so when I heard there was a companion, I about died.
This story was lovely, pure, and beautiful.
But I cannot get over the representation. It was so inclusive! It makes me so happy just thinking about it, and I will absolutely be giving this book to many people.

Just as magical, gentle, diverse and charming as The Tea Dragon Society, The Tea Dragon Festival is a graphic novel that feels like a warm hug.

This is a beautifully illustrated story about community, new opportunities and finding your purpose.

The story is actually a prequel to The Tea Dragon Society, with a different cast of characters (except for an awesome couple) and a different (but just as beautiful) story. You don’t need to read Society to read Festival, but please do, because they’re both wonderful.

This is the book that I want to read the days that I’m feeling down or grumpy. It’s full of love and peace and warmth. It’s exactly how I wish our world would look and feel every single day.

Perfect for kids and adults. I can’t recommend it enough.

5/5 stars

*Review posted to Goodreads and will be up on my Instagram page @books_and_libros by release date.

This was honestly such a fun and cute book. I'm very happy that I stumbled across O'Neills work, because so far everything has just been so hearfelt. Her artwork is beautiful and so are her stories. I honestly love the world that she has created and with every new book, I find myself wishing more and more that I could go within it.