Chelsea O'Byrne

January 14 – National Soup Month

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About the Holiday

On a frigid January day, there’s nothing more satisfying than a steaming-hot bowl of your favorite soup! Or if you live in a southern climate, a cold soup can be so deliciously refreshing. While there are many tasty prepared soups, in honor of today’s holiday, you may want to try cooking a pot your own. Why not check out recipes from your heritage, geographical location, or even inspired by your favorite book? Bon appétit!

Soup’s On Around the World

Written by Denyse Waissbluth | Illustrated by Chelsea O’Byrne

 

Denyse Waissbluth and Chelsea O’Bryne invite readers to pull up a chair at a communal table where people from around the globe dip their spoons into bowls of delicious, nourishing soup. Traveling first to Thailand, children meet people living and plying their trade on a river. On open porches—feet dangling above the water—in boats, and even from floating restaurants people enjoy spicy tom yum goong (or tom yam goong) made from shrimp, lemongrass, and herbs and spices, including hot pepper flakes.

Illustration © 2025 by Chelsea O’Bryne. Text © 2025 by Denyse Waissbluth. Courtesy of Greystone Kids.

From spicy hot soup, Waissbluth pivots to cold with gazpacho, a cool refreshment of blended veggies, vinegar, olive oil, and bread from Spain once eaten by farmers working the fields, but now enjoyed worldwide. She also takes kids to countries where soup is the star of celebrations. In Haiti soup joumou is served every January first to commemorate the country’s Independence Day. Likewise, Mexican families dine on pozole, a meat and vegetable soup that comes in three types: green, white, and red to represent the Mexican flag to celebrate their Independence Day. In addition, those who observe Ramadan often break their fast after sundown with harira soup, a mix of meat, tomatoes, noodles or rice, and spices.

Illustration © 2025 by Chelsea O’Bryne. Text © 2025 by Denyse Waissbluth. Courtesy of Greystone Kids.

In all, Waissbluth serves up the stories and scrumptious ingredients for 20 delectable soups that we and our global neighbors enjoy for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even dessert! She also reminds us that soup isn’t strictly for meals, either. We all know the healing balm of chicken soup, and soup-making (and eating) have brought communities together for centuries. Soup really is a universal language!

Back matter includes an author’s note as well as recipes for Denyse’s and Chelsea’s favorite soups.

Illustration © 2025 by Chelsea O’Bryne. Text © 2025 by Denyse Waissbluth. Courtesy of Greystone Kids.

As in her first book in this series, Teatime Around the World, Denyse Waissbluth ferries young readers from country to country to get a taste of a dish that, while universal also bursts with unique flavors that represent diverse cultures; varied, local ingredients; and even history. Her light touch, broad range of countries and cultures, and admiration for the stories or traditions behind each type of soup keep children engaged and will spur them to think more deeply about their own relationship to special traditional family meals. 

In her vivid illustrations, Chelsea O’Bryne dishes up charming scenes that drop readers into the midst of homes, picnics, celebrations, cafes, and even mountains where they join in with preparations and enjoyment of a wide variety of soups. Her clever illustrations reward thoughtful viewing with their depth, cultural details, and humor. 

A meaningful way to engage young readers in cultural and social studies and of particular interest to children who love to cook and explore different foods and flavors, Soup’s On Around the World is highly recommended for home and library collections.

Ages 4 – 8

Greystone Kids, 2025 | ISBN 978-1778401671

About the Author

Denyse Waissbluth has eaten her way through every Canadian province and territory and more than twenty countries. Her appreciation for how food (like soup!) opens doors to different cultures, and her love of travel has inspired her first two children’s books Teatime Around the World, and now Soup’s On Around the World, both published by Greystone Kids. When she’s not working in the agricultural sector, you can find her exploring new places—both near and far—with her husband and son, enjoying a good book, or sipping a cup of tea. Visit her at denysewaissbluth.com.

About the Illustrator

Chelsea O’Byrne is an artist and teacher living and working in Vancouver, BC. She is the acclaimed illustrator of four books, including Hello, Crow! by Candace Savage (Greystone Kids, 2019), and Teatime Around the World, both published by Greystone Kids (Greystone Kids, 2020). One of Chelsea’s favorite things to eat in her studio is a nice big bowl of home-cooked soup . . . but she is very careful not to spill any on her drawings! You can visit her at chelseaobyrne.ca.

National Soup Month Activity

Soup’s On Around the World Curriculum Guide

 

This fun and colorful curriculum guide for Soup’s On Around the World provided by Greystone Books is the perfect way for teachers, parents, and other educators and caregivers to engage kids in interacting with their own favorite kinds of soup as well as the memories and stories this hearty meal inspires!

You can purchase Soup’s On Around the World from these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop

Picture Book Review

January 10 – It’s National Hot Tea Month

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celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-cover

About the Holiday

I must confess that this is one of my favorite holidays. To me there’s nothing better than waking up with a well-steeped cup of tea, writing while a favorite mug brimming with hot tea sweetened with honey sits nearby, enjoying scones with clotted cream and jam and a hot cuppa…well…you get the picture. People have drunk tea since earliest times for its soothing and medicinal properties. Mellower than coffee and available in endless varieties and tastes, hot tea is just the thing for relaxing moments. Today, enjoy your favorite tea or try a new kind! There’s a world of tea to be discovered – as today’s book reveals!

Thank you to Greystone Books for sharing a copy of Teatime Around the World with me for review consideration. All opinions on the book are my own.

Teatime Around the World

Written by Denyse Waissbluth | Illustrated by Chelsea O’Byrne

Two women sit at a table with steaming cups of tea in front of them, talking. “Tea for one. Tea for two.” To the side sits a teapot, its contents still warm. At their feet a child is having a tea party with a bear, jauntily clad in a feathered hat. Cookies, strawberries, and croissants fill out this feast served from a special tea set. “Tea for me. Tea for you.” Tea time continues in Morocco, where a father and child kneel on pillows. The father pours out three cups of mint tea. Made with green tea, mint, and sugar, each cup of tea will have “a slightly different taste.”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-sugar

Image copyright Chelsea O’Byrne, 2020, text copyright Denyse Waissbluth, 2020. Courtesy of Greystone Books.

In India a street vendor sells a cup of masala chai to a woman, who’s looking for a peaceful break during her day. The “strong tea and spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and pepper…boiled with milk and sweetened” will hit the spot. Hot tea is relaxing, but on a hot day there’s nothing more refreshing than a glass of iced tea. In Thailand, locals and tourists enjoy cha yen, sold from street vendors’ carts. This “strongly brewed sweet tea is poured over ice and drunk from a bag through a straw. Indigenous people in North America soothe fevers, colds, sore muscles, and even sleepless nights with tea made from “berries, plants, and roots.”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-russia

Image copyright Chelsea O’Byrne, 2020, text copyright Denyse Waissbluth, 2020. Courtesy of Greystone Books.

Special tea times—like chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony during which matcha, a powdered green tea is served, and afternoon tea, enjoyed with trays of treats world wide—bring people together for comforting respites. You’ll be interested to discover the origins of afternoon tea too! Tea can be served quietly or dramatically, like “teh tarik, or pulled tea…the national drink of Malaysia,” is “poured from up high, or ‘pulled’ between two mugs, to make it frothy.”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-poured

Image copyright Chelsea O’Byrne, 2020, text copyright Denyse Waissbluth, 2020. Courtesy of Greystone Books.

Tea is as old as its discovery thousands of years ago in China and as new as bubble tea, created in Taiwan in the 1980s. In Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, yerba maté tea is served in hollowed-out gourds with a “special straw called a bombilla,” while in Jamaica sorrel, made from roselle hibiscus buds, “spiced with ginger, cloves, and sugar,” is perfect for any festive occasion. No matter where you live, what flavors of tea you enjoy, or how you serve it, you can always count on “tea for one. / Tea for two. / Loved by all / the whole world through.”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-for-group

Image copyright Chelsea O’Byrne, 2020, text copyright Denyse Waissbluth, 2020. Courtesy of Greystone Books.

With a lilting poem that flows from page to page, Denyse Waissbluth introduces unique flavors, special brew methods, and the comforting feeling a cup of hot or iced tea infuses into a day. The shared experience of tea drinking provides a fascinating touchstone for Waissbluth’s travelogue that takes kids around the world to experience the rituals, recipes, and traditions from each country that make their tea unique. Waissbluth’s conversational style will appeal to kids looking to learn how global cultures are similar to and different from their own.

Chelsea O’Byrne’s lovely matte illustrations take children to cities, the countryside, and the seaside around the globe, revealing not only diverse scenes of how tea is made, served, and enjoyed, but homes, food, and clothing as well. Children will be excited to see such homey and intimate portraits of their peers around the world.

Sure to spur readers to learn more about the countries featured and entice them to try their signature teas, Teatime Around the World would enhance geography, history, and multicultural lessons for school and homeschooling and is highly recommended for school and public library collections.

Ages 3 – 7

Greystone Books, 2020 | ISBN 978-1771646017

You can connect with Denyse Waissbluth on Instagram.

To learn more about Chelsea O’Byrne, her books, and her art, visit her website.

National Hot Tea Month Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-tea-word-search-puzzle

Tea for You! Word Search

Can you find the names of eighteen delicious teas from around the world in this printable puzzle?

Tea for You! Word Search Puzzle | Tea for You! Word Search Solution

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-cover

You can find Teatime Around the World at these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop 

Picture Book Review

December 15 – International Tea Day

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celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-cover

About the Holiday

Established in 2005 in New Deli, India, International Tea Day was created to raise awareness within the governments of tea-growing countries of the rights of tea workers, their conditions, and their economic contributions. Today, the holiday is commemorated widely in tea-growing nations. Some of the issues the day focuses on include wages, medical care, and education for women tea workers, who make up fifty percent of of the workforce on tea plantations. Following water, tea is the most widely drunk beverage in the world. To celebrate today, enjoy a cuppa with a cookie, a scone, or another favorite treat. 

Teatime Around the World

Written by Denyse Waissbluth | Illustrated by Chelsea O’Byrne

 

Two women sit at a table with steaming cups of tea in front of them, talking. “Tea for one. Tea for two.” To the side sits a teapot, its contents still warm. At their feet a child is having a tea party with a bear, jauntily clad in a feathered hat. Cookies, strawberries, and croissants fill out this feast served from a special tea set. “Tea for me. Tea for you.” Tea time continues in Morocco, where a father and child kneel on pillows. The father pours out three cups of mint tea. Made with green tea, mint, and sugar, each cup of tea will have “a slightly different taste.”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-sugar

Image copyright Chelsea O’Byrne, 2020, text copyright Denyse Waissbluth, 2020. Courtesy of Greystone Books.

In India a street vendor sells a cup of masala chai to a woman, who’s looking for a peaceful break during her day. The “strong tea and spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and pepper…boiled with milk and sweetened” will hit the spot. Hot tea is relaxing, but on a hot day there’s nothing more refreshing than a glass of iced tea. In Thailand, locals and tourists enjoy cha yen, sold from street vendors’ carts. This “strongly brewed sweet tea is poured over ice and drunk from a bag through a straw. Indigenous people in North America soothe fevers, colds, sore muscles, and even sleepless nights with tea made from “berries, plants, and roots.”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-russia

Image copyright Chelsea O’Byrne, 2020, text copyright Denyse Waissbluth, 2020. Courtesy of Greystone Books.

Special tea times—like chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony during which matcha, a powdered green tea is served, and afternoon tea, enjoyed with trays of treats world wide—bring people together for comforting respites. You’ll be interested to discover the origins of afternoon tea too! Tea can be served quietly or dramatically, like “teh tarik, or pulled tea…the national drink of Malaysia,” is “poured from up high, or ‘pulled’ between two mugs, to make it frothy.”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-poured

Image copyright Chelsea O’Byrne, 2020, text copyright Denyse Waissbluth, 2020. Courtesy of Greystone Books.

Tea is as old as its discovery thousands of years ago in China and as new as bubble tea, created in Taiwan in the 1980s. In Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, yerba maté tea is served in hollowed-out gourds with a “special straw called a bombilla,” while in Jamaica sorrel, made from roselle hibiscus buds, “spiced with ginger, cloves, and sugar,” is perfect for any festive occasion. No matter where you live, what flavors of tea you enjoy, or how you serve it, you can always count on “tea for one. / Tea for two. / Loved by all / the whole world through.”

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-for-group

Image copyright Chelsea O’Byrne, 2020, text copyright Denyse Waissbluth, 2020. Courtesy of Greystone Books.

With a lilting poem that flows from page to page, Denyse Waissbluth introduces unique flavors, special brew methods, and the comforting feeling a cup of hot or iced tea infuses into a day. The shared experience of tea drinking provides a fascinating touchstone for Waissbluth’s travelogue that takes kids around the world to experience the rituals, recipes, and traditions from each country that makes their tea unique. Waissbluth’s conversational style will appeal to kids looking to learn how global cultures are similar to and different from their own.

Chelsea O’Byrne’s lovely matte illustrations take children to cities, the countryside, and the seaside around the globe, revealing not only diverse scenes of how tea is made, served, and enjoyed, but homes, food, and clothing as well. Children will be excited to see such homey and intimate portraits of their peers around the world.

Sure to spur readers to learn more about the countries featured and entice them to try their signature teas, Teatime Around the World would enhance geography, history, and multicultural lessons for school and homeschooling and is highly recommended for school and public library collections.

Ages 3 – 7

Greystone Books, 2020 | ISBN 978-1771646017

You can connect with Denyse Waissbluth on Instagram.

To learn more about Chelsea O’Byrne, her books, and her art, visit her website.

International Tea Day Activity

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-tea-word-search-puzzle

Tea for You! Word Search

 

Can you find the names of eighteen delicious teas from around the world in this printable puzzle?

Tea for You! Word Search Puzzle | Tea for You! Word Search Solution

celebrate-picture-books-picture-book-review-teatime-around-the-world-cover

You can find Teatime Around the World at these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million

To support your local independent bookstore, order from

Bookshop | IndieBound

Picture Book Review