By Xu Bin
Translated by Shan Chen
Illustrated by Yu Yin
Charlesbridge, 2025
40 pages
978-1-62354-623-6
Ages 4-8
Joining Baba in picking tea leaves on the mountain near their Chinese village is “a special treat” for this book’s narrator and his brother. Mama joins them, too. After a steep trek, the family reaches a “serene” garden striped with orderly rows of green tea shrubs. Baba gets to work immediately, snapping leaves off their stems. The boys help, but they also enjoy the garden’s delights: They chase bamboo partridges, catch praying mantises, and collect fruits from a camellia tree to enjoy during lunch. They notice honeybees and black snakes and marvel at the way their voices echo. After lunch, the family weathers a short rainstorm, and at sunset they sort and bag their tea leaves. Before their day is done, though, they must stop by the tea factory to sell their fresh leaves. As they walk home, a truck carrying tea leaves passes them on the road. “There go our tea leaves!” While the boys’ wonder is at the forefront of the story, the painted illustrations reveal just how hard Baba works (even as the rest of the family naps after lunch). Yet the narrator’s reflection that the work may be “backbreaking,” but “also joyful, especially when I do it with my family,” is abundantly clear. ©2025 Cooperative Children’s Book Center