The world of children’s tea books is wider than you might think. Take your pick—a fairy tale where a princess with magical powers brews a pot of tea for her kingdom, a family tea party where a little girl and her grandfather start a new tradition, mischievous children learn etiquette at another tea party, a princess fulfills her dream to open a teashop, or a hot-tempered bull who runs his grandmother’s china shop learns not be a bully, thanks to tea.
For Mercedes Wadkins of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, her book, , answered her daughter’s pleas. Isabella, who is adopted, was disappointed her beloved fairy tales didn’t have princesses who were adopted. If non-birth parents featured at all, they were very mean. So, she wrote a book about how the king and queen of the kingdom of Bellasia, sad because they are childless, find the most beautiful baby in a garden, with the help of generous fairies, Chamomile and Jasmine. A helpful wizard instructs the fairies to obtain a silver teapot made by dragons, brew a special potion, pour it on a certain plant in a secret garden, and then take the queen to see it. The baby, named Isabella, becomes a kind princess who helps an injured baby dragon (who crashed into the castle moat while learning to fly) regain his fire-breathing