Tea for Two: a Guest Review!

I have a little cousin whom I love more than life itself, y'all. I know everybody says this about their relations, but Caitlin really is the bees knees. She is ten years old, she plays piano, she dances and she sings in the Virginia Children's Choir. Besides that she is a great reader herself, and is already hard at work on her first novel!

Because I am of an extremely advanced age, and don't currently have kids of my own, I'm out of touch with what's going on in young adult literature. So Caitlin has kindly agreed to be my link to the past, in what I hope will become a regular feature! She's going to choose for me the best of what's out there right now for her age group, and I'll pass the information along to you. And you'll get the skinny from the horses's mouth, so to speak.

Caitlin's first pick is The Teashop Girls, by Laura Schaefer. Here's what she has to say about it:

Annie, Genna and Zoe have been hanging out at Annie's grandmother's teashop, The Steeping Leaf, since elementary school. They call themselves The Teashop Girls. They do everything together--or at least, they used to. With Genna and Zoe in clubs and sports, Anna feels left out. She gets a job as a barista in her grandmother's shop.

When Annie finds out her grandma can't pay the bills, the Teashop Girls get back together and try to save the Steeping Leaf. Jonathan, another barista, has an idea to change the Leaf completely. But when less and less people come, can they change it back? At the end, Genna and Annie and Zoe have a fight. Read the book to see if they can make up!

Rating: 4 of 5 stars.

From Amazon.com: Recipes, facts and quotes about tea are sandwiched between the chapters, and cozy illustrations of teapots and cakes alongside photographs of vintage advertisements add to the fun. Like the mismatched interior of the Steeping Leaf cafe, the eclectic, slightly cluttered nature of this book won't be everyone's cup of you-know-what, but those who share the heroine's passion for funk (and, of course, tea) will drink it up.

Thanks, Caitlin, for passing along this read! It sounds tres charmant. We're all looking forward to your next pick!