Birds and tea and ... I can't remember the rest

July 18, 2011 4:17 PM

Help me find a forgotten children's book! My memory of this is almost unforgivably hazy -- I read the book in the mid to late 1980s. The book (possibly all of it, maybe just the ending) takes place at a beautiful teahouse, I believe Chinese, where everyone brings their birds in cages.

The book may or may not involve an old man who was originally not allowed to come to the teahouse. I have a clear memory of vivid, brightly colored illustrations. Can you help me?

posted by hels to writing & language (2 answers total)

I'm going to take a wild guess, because I loved this book around the same time... was it in the Golden Book of Chinese Fairy Tales, by Marie Ponsot and Serge Rizzato? Check out the other pictures for a reminder.
posted by Madamina at 7:13 AM on July 19, 2011

Found it! It's Breakfast With the Birds by Doris Portwood Evans, an early-70s children's book.
posted by hels at 9:08 PM on July 25, 2011