Spinelli and Dugan Make Tea Tantalizing in Tea Party Today

When Bethesdalily announced her Finer Things Write-Off, I knew I would want to participate, but I wasn’t sure what I would find to contribute. I rarely listen to audiobooks, and I’m afraid I’ve never had a taste for tea. However, I did enjoy “tea” parties when I was a child, even though the tea was actually Kool-Aid or juice, and I fondly remember my plastic Strawberry Shortcake tea set. I wonder what happened to it… Recalling my fondness for childhood tea parties made me think that the subject might have come up in picture books, and further investigation led me to several tea-related treasures. Perhaps the most charming of the bunch is Tea Party Today: Poems to Sip and Savor, a collection of poetry and tea party tips written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Karen Dugan.

Spinelli opens with a page-long introduction detailing her history with tea sets and tea parties enjoyed in different setting and with company ranging from neighborhood friends to grandparents. Following that are 20 poems, each taking up one or two pages, though all of them are on the short side. Those that cover two pages do so mostly for the sake of illustration. For instance, Getting Ready is only twelve lines long, but it’s spread across two pages, a couple lines here, a couple there, interspersed with seven pictures of a cheerful Japanese girl preparing herself and her home for a tea party. The educational Tea Around the World has a single painting that stretches across two pages, featuring depictions of children from nine different countries serving tea. The longest poem in the book at 16 lines, it discusses tea traditions specific to certain nations.

Every poem ties in with a tip for children who want to host tea parties of their own. These are all simple and helpful; leafing through the book will provide plenty of good ideas. As a bookworm, I loved the suggestions of asking everyone to bring a poem to read at the tea party or having each guest say what literary character he or she would most like to invite to a tea party. One practical tip is to scour yard sales and second-hand stores for saucers and tea cups. Meanwhile, for this write-off, I thought the suggestion to forego a phone invitation and instead write one out by hand on fancy stationery and mail it was especially pertinent.

Although attending a tea party is more often seen as a feminine activity than a masculine one, Dugan takes care to include boys in her lively illustrations as often as she does girls, and the children also reflect a variety of cultures. She shows us the ill-tempered “teatime grouch” who’s building up to a terrible tantrum but also the serene lad in what is probably my favorite illustration. Accompanying the short poem Lakeside, the dark-skinned boy with glasses and short black hair sits with a mug of tea, smiling in contentment from his perch in a rowboat as a fish, two ducks and three dragonflies draw near. In addition to the children, we see quite a few animals, both real and plush, and adults sometimes join in the fun as well.

All of Spinelli’s poems rhyme and feature a simple rhythmic pattern that increases the poetic appeal for children. Her word choices are creative, but she also keeps them short, sticking almost exclusively to one- and two-syllable words. Meanwhile, most of the individual lines contain eight syllables or fewer. A parent and child might have fun reading these aloud to each other, and I think most children over seven or so would find few words to trip them up. Reading this book with another person is ideal because the tone is so interactive, and the readers can begin to make plans for a tea party together. Spinelli and Dugan demonstrate the incredible variety that tea parties have to offer, from setting and guests to theme and type of tea served. Even if you’ve never had much interest in attending a tea party, you might find your interest piqued after reading this creative and useful collection.