Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham

Peet, Mal and Elspeth Graham Cloud Tea Monkeys illustrated by Juan Wijngaard 46 pgs. Candlewick Press, 2010. PICTURE BOOK. $15.99. Based on Chinese legend, this husband and wife author-duo tell a richly descriptive tale of one young girl who changes the course of her and her mothers life forever. Tashi and her mother live in a tiny village where her mothers works on a tea plantation. After her mother becomes sick, Tashi must go to the tea plantation to work in her stead if they are to survive. Ridiculed and discouraged by other workers, Tashi sorrowfully tells her sad circumstances to the monkeys. Once they learn of her sad misfortune, the monkeys help Tashi gather tea leaves...tea leaves that are very rare and almost impossible to find, but it is these tea leaves that prove to be the key to her and her mother's survival. 
This is a fascinating and magical story with illustrations that are as descriptive and rich as the text. EL-OPTIONAL. Whitney, Library-Teacher.