I happily reviewed Katie O'Neill's The Tea Dragon Festival back in August of 2017, and while I felt this one did not quite match up to the high standard that one set (I really enjoyed that one!), I still think this is a worthy read. It expands on the original story and adds new folklore, and has some interesting new characters.

The author's artwork is of the same high standard as before, but the story felt to me a little bit more meandering. I should say up front that I'm not a fan of series because they tend to be little more than a retreading of the original story. Like retreaded tires, they're not worth the money, and are typically boring to me. This was not one of those sequels I was happy to see. It did have some more story to tell that was new and different.

As I said before, the tea dragon story book is everything that the overly-commercialized 'My Little Pony' garbage ought to have been, but failed so dismally to get there. The tea dragon stories do get there, and by a different and far more interesting route. The little dragons are renowned for the tea they produce through leaves which grow on their horns and antlers. Those leaves contain memories which the drinker can share, but they cannot grow without a true bond between the Tea Dragon and its care-giver. And no, you cannot buy that tea commercially!

Rinn, the protagonist here, grew up with tea dragons and is used to their being around and their habits and foibles, but in this outing she runs into a real dragon named Aedhan, who has been sleeping for a very long time. This enchanted sleep is a mystery that begs to be solved, and Rinn is up to the job! I commend this story as a fun and worthy read.

First off want to give a big thank you for being approved for this egalley of the tea dragon festival.

I have read all of Katie o Neill’s books before this and already I loved them all so much so when I went into this I had a little incline what this will be like but of course Katie raises the bar every time and always improves with every book she brings out.

Like the rest of the books this story was just amazing it’s so light hearted,fun and so cute and it just makes me smile from ear to ear.

I loved the characters so much and I really enjoyed the journey they went on throughout this book and I loved the underlined message it has running through this book. My fav two characters were rinn and her companion that she meets on the way Aedhan who is a dragon. Their bond was so beautiful and loved how Rinn always made sure Aedhan was okay and welcome with open arms. What is special about Aedhan is that he can transform from dragon to human form which was cool to see. And love how he protected everyone around them when they were put in a little sticky situation.

The illustrations in this book are just beautiful I just love how vibrant and bright every page u look at is. Like I said earlier just seeing all these colours makes u feel happy and puts u in a good mood. The diversity in colour is always amazing to see aswell from colour of skin to the not pointed out that much but sexuality.


Overall this book was just a amazing read and one that u could definitely read and show to kids which is always a plus. If u couldn’t tell aswell this is a 5/5 star read. Super feel good

Absolutely stunning. A few things that make The Tea Dragon Festival stand out:

- The Art - It really feels like every page was hand painted, and the emotion comes through strongly. I was especially impressed by the way light dappling through the trees was shown.
- Sign Language - some of the characters use sign language to communicate, which is so inclusive and will teach readers a bit about something they might not understand.
- The Imagination - There are many scenes that are so richly imagined, you just want to jump into the page and live in that world. One in particular is near the beginning when Rinn is foraging for food in the forest. I would read an entire book of just that excursion.

Over all, reading this book gave me a unique sense of peace and joy. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed Katie O'Neill's other books, Studio Ghibli movies, or who just wants to challenge their imagination with a beautiful fantasy world.

A prequel to Tea Dragon Society, The Tea Dragon Festival takes place in a small mountain village and focuses on a young girl named Rinn. She discovers a dragon in the mountains who had fallen asleep for 80 years, missing decades of protecting the village. Rinn shows the dragon the village and helps him to feel at home.

Katie O'Neill is the queen of gentle fantasy for middle grade readers. Her art is cute and comforting. I always want to get lost in the scenes and places she creates. The village is idyllic, with diverse and welcoming people. I loved that she incorporated sign language into the graphic novel, something I haven't seen before.

If you're looking for a cozy, beautiful story, this is the perfect book to get lost in for an afternoon.

**I received an e-ARC from Netgalley**

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy.

I've been hearing a lot of good thing about this series and Katie O'Neill and they are all true. This is by far the cutest thing I've read this year! I recommend checking it out and it is good for young readers.

The Tea Dragon Festival is the second book that follows the cuteness overload of tea dragons! The grumpy mountain chamomile may be the best thing ever. In this story the main heroine finds a dragon that has been asleep for almost 100 years and wakes them up. This book is about life, family, and being yourself! It is awesomeness. While we get new characters that were not in the first book, this book still has heart and everything that you loved from the first volume. Kids and grownups both will love this book. It is a first purchase for all libraries that serve children. Enjoy!

Even if this story wasn't sweet, and lovely and enjoyable, the artwork alone would be worth the admission.

This is the second book in the Tea Dragon series, but it is not necessary to read the first book, although characters reoccur from the first book, you don't need to know this. This story is set in a slightly different area that keeps tea dragons around.

The basic story is that of a dragon that went to sleep, mysteriously and missed taking care of Rinn's village.

Rinn, who discovers the dragon while looking for wild plants, explains that it is ok. He is here now, and that is fine. Live in the moment.
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Wonderful book. I love the use of sign langugue, that is used because one of the characters is deaf. This is just accepted, and Rinn has to explain it to the dragon.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

These books are so stinking adorable and I love them so much. I love tea dragons (they are so cute!) and the lore that they have. I love the inclusiveness that I see in her work, in this one there is a deaf character, not to mention characters of color throughout. The stories are just lovely heart-warming tales involving personal connection.

The illustrations are beautiful, vibrant, and expressive. I can’t express how lovely the are in this book is-I would own this book just to flip through an look at all the beautiful artwork.

I feel so blessed to have been able to dive back into this world so soon. Last month I absolutely fell in love with these precious little dragons and the people around them. It has become one of my favorite graphic novel series ever!

The Tea Dragon Festival is more like a prequel to The Tea Dragon Society, but I am so glad we got to see some familiar faces, plus meet some new ones. This story was just as magical. I loved the representation (especially the sign language aspect!! I wish there was more of that in graphic novels)! To me, this world and the stories within it could be endless. So, it's perfect.

Give me more, please.

A heart warming book just like the first Tea Dragon graphic novel! The artist's illustration style is absolutely lovely and her stories always include a sense of acceptance and love.

The Tea Dragon Festival is an outstanding little story - so gentle, lovely, warm, pretty. It makes me very dreamy.

It's really nice that this second part is a bit longer than the first installement in the verse and also shows a very different narrative and new characters, while being set in the same world with the same beautiful aesthetic and still some familiar faces. There's so much to love about it.

Personally I liked the first book a tiny bit better, but I don't think it is possible for anyone to NOT enjoy them both thoroughly. And this one also gets a lot of plus points for the sweet and interesting inclusion of sign language.
I really hope there's more to come for this series.

Recommended for tea lovers and dragon lovers and aesthetic admirers, but also all of your friends, your family, your neighbors, everyone's kids and grandmas and lovers and your sworn enemies.

I will be more thoroughly reviewing this book on my blog at the URL below, but I was thrilled to receive an ARC of this book, and it did not disappoint. Especially excited for the positive disability representation, body diversity represented in the art, mixed/chosen family structures, and genderqueer representation. Thank you so much.

This story is so beautiful and the art is gorgeous, and together they are magical! I just love the sense of love, friendship, and family that they provide.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tea Dragon Society was my favorite book of the year when it first came out and I knew that I had to get my hands on Tea Dragon Festival. This book is just as charming as the first. The artwork is captivating and gorgeous. While I usually fly through graphic novels, I had to savor this one over two days. The best description I can give is that this book, and the one before it, are nurturing to the soul. I always feel better after reading it because of the gentle language used and the representation that is true to life. This is a must read for all humans and tea dragon alike!

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
Thanks for the opportunity to review this book!

5/5
I will never be disappointed by anything by Katie O'Neill.

This is yet another beautifully illustrated, incredibly wholesome story.
It has deaf representation, and a community that uses ASL to communicate!
It's awesome and I absolutely love the diversity Katie interweaves into her books. Her illustrations are as gorgeous as ever! Can't wait to pick up a finished copy in September!

Katie O'Neill can do no wrong! Her books are always so beautiful and touching without being over the top. I especially loved the message in this one about how just because something comes easily for you, it doesn't mean it has no value. Effortlessly inclusive by showing people of all colors and normalizing queerness and sign language usage - this book rocks! I'm gonna need like a gazillion more just like this, please! :)

As usual, Katie O'Neill delivers a heartwarming story wrapped in layers of beautiful color. The art is incredibly adorable and makes you wish for plush figures of everyone, especially the tea dragons. Diversity is a natural part of the story, with dark-skinned, queer, and disabled characters filling the foreground and background. I hope this series will continue with even more installments to bring joy to readers like me.

The Tea Dragon Festival is a companion prequel to the graphic novel The Tea Dragon Society, featuring both old and new characters and just as many adorable dragons. The art is gorgeous (and there were fungi and beautiful woods! I loved that a lot.)

This time, the story follows a genderfluid main character who loves gathering food from the forest, and a confused dragon who woke up after eighty years of sleep. The story was cute, but what made it truly stand out was how it normalized queerness and sign language. Also, it's so refreshing to read about a world in which people of many different ethnicities coexist and the world doesn't always default to western customs - see which kinds of food was drawn and sometimes the eating utensils, for example.

Another thing I really appreciated was that this graphic novel said that just because something is easy for you, it doesn't mean it has no value. More than anything, this is a story about community, and finding your own place in it, and I thought it was wonderful.

The only thing I didn't love was the part at the end that attempted to explain dragon taxonomy, made a mess in which it mixed up species and subspecies, and capitalized specific epithets. I kind of wish it hadn't been there at all, because I care about that sort of thing.

OMG! This was so adorable! It is a prequel to The Tea Dragon Society and it made me feel so happy. It was a delight to read, I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The artwork is gorgeous and it is as stunning as the first one. The whole lot made my heart melt, I felt so much love and joy while reading it and I will definetely read it again. It also has a lot of representation such as LGBTQ+ , non-binary main characters, deaf rep and more. Plus, dragons! It's a magical book and for sure it's made for everyone to read.

After reading The Tea Dragon Society a few months ago, I was so happy to learn that Katie O’Neill wrote a second book in the Tea Dragon series. The Tea Dragon Festival was equally as beautiful and powerful as its predecessor. The lessons it teaches are somewhat more nuanced, which I loved. The characters are all so adorable, and O’Neill includes elements in this book I have never seen in a graphic novel before, like sign language.

As you can tell from the cover art, a new type of dragon is introduced in The Tea Dragon Society. While all of the dragons in the first book were quite lil, the follow-up features a full-size dragon who can change forms. He has a very interesting history, and it’s fascinating to watch him learn more about the human world throughout the story.

The main character, Rinn (they/them), also learns a lot about themself throughout the book. They feel trapped in the everyday minutia of daily life, and struggle to find purpose and meaning in their work. This is a struggle most readers will relate to on some level, and I found it really beautiful to see how Rinn dealt with their feelings.

There isn’t much more I can say about O’Neill’s artistry that I haven’t already said in my Aquicorn Cove review. Each character is rendered with so much heart and life. I would love to step into one of her books and find a new home among the tea dragons.

There are a lot of other deep ideas that shine through Tea Dragon Festival; self-acceptance is a big one. Another theme I found particularly powerful is accepting the limits of others. The limits of someone who experienced a trauma may be different from my own in the same way the limits of a dragon differ from those of a human. This book portrays this idea in a beautiful and clear way. I love how O’Neill continues to inject these powerful messages in her books.

If cute and quirky is your genre (or you’d like it to be!) I highly recommend adding one of O’Neill’s books to your reading list asap.