content warnings: mild violence
representation: Black protagonist, main mlm wheelchair-user of colour, main interracial m/m relationship, minor Black characters

Kay O'Neill is back at it again with the diverse middle grade that's mostly sweet but then hits me with Emotions towards the end. The Tea Dragon Society might be her best known work, and for good reason. I adored this with every fiber of my being, and the fact that this is going to be a series excites me so much.

This short book follows Greta, a blacksmith's apprentice, who befriends Hesekiel, a tea shop owner and member of the practically non-existent Tea Dragon Society. She begins helping him and his partner, Erik, with looking after tea dragons, while also befriending Minette, a girl who left home after failing to become a seer.

Everything about this book is just so sweet. The art is simple but beautiful, the characters not overly complex but extremely well-written, and the smattering of lore we get is perfectly done. I'm sure there'll be at least a minor expansion on the tea dragons and the society in future books, but the little of it we got in this one I thought was just enough. There are a few pages at the end, after the epilogue, that contain short bios for the different types of tea dragons, and I now need one immediately because they're so cute and, as a bonus, I love tea.

Unsurprisingly, from the author who wrote Princess Princess Ever After, there are implications of a future relationship from Greta and Minette, but even if that never happens I'll be okay because their friendship as it is now is already so lovely. 

This was the best thing to read during times of self-isolation, so if you haven't picked this up yet and you have the means to, I could not recommend it more highly.