A review by aimeesbookishlife
Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet, Elspeth Graham

4.0

This is a simply beautiful story about Tashi, a girl from a poor Indian family whose mother, a tea picker, is taken ill and is unable to work. Tashi tries to take her mother's place picking tea but she is too small and the overseer laughs at her. She goes off to cry with her friends the monkeys, with whom she often shares the fruit her mum gives her for lunch. The monkeys feel sorry for her and while she is asleep, they bring her a basket full of best tea in the world - cloud tea - to impress the royal tea taster.
The story is set at an unspecified time during the heyday of the British Empire - the tea taster mentions that he is looking for tea to bring back to the Empress - but it has a magical, other-worldly feel and reads like a rags-to-riches fairy story, perfect for children who are tired of Cinderella and want something a little bit different.