A fantasy world where tea leaves grow on tiny dragons and kids pootle around. No, I don’t see a story there either!!
Just because a book is aimed at youngsters, doesn’t mean it should get away with being boring and inane. Honestly: NOTHING happens in The Tea Dragon Society! A couple kids become friends, a pair of adults relate how they met and everyone sits about drinking tea.
What was the point of this book – “love is nice”?! There’s some half-hearted piffle towards the end about sort of picking your own destiny that’s unimpressive to say the least. The sheer amount of vapidity is stunning.
The art is very pretty – neat and skilful if derivative of anime-style – though it’s a little too cutesy for its own good. The characters couldn’t be blander and what I’ll call the story, for want of a better word, is unmemorable tosh.
Katie O’Neill’s mindless book is indicative of the overall lack of quality among most of this year’s Eisner Award Winners. There are kids books out there that are imaginative, entertaining and actually about something - see the work of Raymond Briggs, Vera Brosgol, Herge, Goscinny and Uderzo, and Faith Erin Hicks, to name some - but The Tea Dragon Society ain’t one of them!
