There is some debate about how old a child should be before they are introduced to the wonders of tea. But you’re probably safe in introducing them to books about tea at any age, no matter how young. One good choice in this area might be the Emma Lea books, a series of tea-themed children’s picture books by Babette Donaldson that number six volumes in all – so far. The latest of these finds its young heroine taking a trip to China. I recently wrote about Donaldson in an article for this site, but for some reason I hadn’t run across this particular series before then.

Speaking of books I’ve overlooked, it looks like The Soul & Spirit of Tea falls into that category. It’s edited by Phil Cousineau and Scott Chamberlin Hoyt. It features a foreword by renowned tea person James Norwood Pratt, and was apparently released in early 2013. Billed as 21 Tea-Inspired Essays for the Early Twenty-First Century, it gathers writings from a number of other renowned tea people.

If the editor’s names sound familiar, it might be in relation to The Meaning of Tea: A Tea Inspired Journey, which was a documentary film directed by Hoyt and released a few years ago. As I noted here early last year, Cousineau and Hoyt released a 2009 companion volume to the documentary that included more than 50 interviews with a variety of people from the world of tea. More here.

Last up this time around, is Green is the New Black, by Holly Helt, an American raised in Japan, which has long been something of a hotbed of green tea production. Yes, the green of the title refers to green tea and a description of the books promises that it will take you “across Japan following every aspect of the noble leaf from plant to cup; regales its health benefits; delves into the pottery scene; and shows how green tea is a vital part of the Japanese lifestyle, where exotic teas are delighting sippers from sunrise to sunset.”

See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles here.

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