How many cups of tea do you drink everyday?!

Yesterday Crumb and the Teapot of Chaos

Author: Andy Sagar @andysagarbooks

Illustrator: Marine Gosselin instagram – @phlox.art

Published by Orion Books @orionbooks

Price: £7.99

First line: There was once a teashop that wouldn’t stay put.

Genre: Magical, fantasy

Age: 9+

ISBN: 978 1 51010 952 0

What’s it all about?

This is the second book in the series about the star, Yesterday Crumb, following on from ‘The Storm in a Teacup’. This book follows, Yesterday (a tea witch) and her friends (Jack Cadogan, Miss Dumpling, Madrigal the not-raven, Mr Wormwood the gardener, Widdershins the clockwork automaton and Pascal the tea spirit), travelling around (not in Dwimmerly End tea shop this time, as it has been captured) London competing in the Wild Feast (the Fairie Queen’s competition for the best magical folk) to win their home back.

Why should I read it?

Initially, I found all the characters quite confusing as I hadn’t read the first book and they are not clearly introduced at the beginning. But as you continue to read, the characters are fully developed and easy to connect with as a reader. Again, this book surprised me, with the plot initially being very timid and very infant like in its approach. However, after about 50 pages, with the evil Mr Weep, the psychopathic Fairie Queen and the underlying prejudice that Yesterday experiences as a person called a neither-nor (faeries who have grown up around humans) the plot becomes very deep and moving and I was hooked. As you slowly find out the different character’s perspectives and how their aims are twisting around each other, you the reader gasp and groan! There will clearly be a third book in the series. The action sequences are vast and very well described and you will Yesterday and her magical tea to victory. The overall themes of the book – friendship, determination, kindness – would be brilliant to discuss with a class in Key Stage 2.

Thank you to the UKLA and the publishers for the review copy. A fuller review of the book may appear in the UKLA’s 4-11 magazine.