The Picture Book Buzz - Interview w/Adib Khorram, Hanna Cha, and Review of Tea is Love

Adib Khorram is a queer Iranian American author, graphic designer, and tea enthusiast. His debut young adult novel Darius the Great is Not Okay earned the William C. Morris Debut Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature, a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor, and was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Greatest YA Novels of All Time.

If he's not writing (or at his day job), you can probably find him trying to get his 100-yard Freestyle under a minute or learning to do a Lutz Jump. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where people don't usually talk about themselves in the third person.

Adib’s the author of 9 books, including Bijan Always Wins, illustrated by Michelle Tran (2024), Seven Special Somethings: A Nowruz Story, illustrated by Zainab Faidhi (2021) and seven YA novels.

Hannah Cha is a Caldecott Honor award-winning illustrator and writer with several books under her belt. She is the creator of her first book Tiny Feet Between the Mountains and illustrated Circle Round by Anne Sibley O’Brien. She was also the recipient of the Caldecott Honor and the APALA winner for The Truth about Dragons by Julie Leung and also part of the Junior Library Gold Standard Selection for The House Before Falling Into the Sea by Ann Suk Wang.

Born in America and a vagabond she lived in tandem between Seoul, Korea, and many states in America. Since graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2017, she resided in Boston with her husband, and her tiger-like cuddly cat, Hobac. When she isn’t daydreaming and capturing moments with her soft washes, she is pointing and filing away at lil’ nooks of details to later conjure them into a daydream and inevitably a story.

Hannah’s the author/illustrator of Tiny Feet Between the Mountains (2019) and the illustrator of The House Before Falling into the Sea by Ann Suk Wang (2024), The Truth About Dragons by Julie Leung (2023), and Circle Round by Anne Sibley O'Brien (2021),

There newest picture book, Tea is Love, was released on October 28^th.

Welcome Adib and Hannah!

Tell us a little about yourself. (Where/when do you write or illustrate? How long have you been writing or illustrating? What is your favorite type of book to write or illustrate? )

Adib - I’ve been writing since I was in sixth grade or so, starting with Star Trek Fanfic! I mostly write at home in my office, but once or twice a week I treat myself to a coffee shop day where I write in a local coffee shop. Writing can be lonely, so being out among the people energizes me. I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite type, though. My favorite is usually whatever I’m working on right now.

Hanna - I have been reading and drawing my whole life. When I was a toddler, apparently I would sit down for a full hour to draw in the mud. But I decided to take my illustrator's journey seriously when I was a junior in high school. My path to becoming a children's book illustrator was not planned and something I stumbled into, but now when I recall my love for libraries and books it seems like fate. I love sketching and doodling anywhere - next to a reservoir, in a cafe, any place I can fit and have a moment. But the finals are often done at home with my cat and husband as company. I love illustrating all types of books because it's a good excuse to get better on many subjects I am not used to. But illustrating fantasy and forest scenes does come to me naturally.

It is wonderful to "meet" you both! What is one of the most fun or unusual places where you’ve written a manuscript or created an illustration?

Adib - Back in 2024, I had the opportunity to participate in the MacDowell Fellowship and wrote in a cabin in New Hampshire for two weeks. It’s the same cabin Thornton Wilder wrote parts of Our Town in!

Hanna - I once illustrated a book as I visited my parent's house in Korea. My mom used to volunteer at a cafe run by other moms and I got permission to be able to use my inks and paints at the cafe. I would sometimes clock in with her and stay at the cafe all day throughout her shift and I think I did that for a good 2 months. I garnered a little club of kids who would watch me draw and ask me questions. I like to imagine their curious gaze and bounding energy seeped into the illustrations and book.

Those both sound like amazing places to be creative. Adib, what was your inspiration or spark of curiosity for Tea is Love?

Adib - I love tea, and I’ve been drinking it for years. My first YA novel, Darius the Great Is Not Okay, centers on Darius, who also loves tea. I loved writing about tea in that book, and wanted to find a way to write about it in picture book form. I thought I wanted to write something more educational—about the types of tea, how it’s grown, etc.—but instead, what popped into my head was the refrain: Tea is love. I find that when things pop into my head like that, I have to follow them and see where they lead.

Oh, I am really glad that you did. You created an amazing book. Hanna, what about the Tea is Love manuscript appealed to you as an illustrator?

Hanna - Adib's words were just right. It read like a poignant gentle dance. When I first got the manuscript, I also got a little description of what Adib imagined the flow of the book to be. That description was just perfect and I could easily imagine what the pictures could look like. Ultimately, Adib's words allow the readers and illustrations to gently sway into the pages.

What a lovely description of the interplay between the text and the illustrations. How many revisions did Tea is Love take for the text or illustrations from your first draft to publication?

Adib - I think six total revisions on the text before it went to Hanna, and then some slight tweaks after I saw the illustrations. That’s not counting the author’s note at the end. It was quite a challenge to condense centuries of tea drinking history into a couple paragraphs in language accessible to children.

Hanna - I feel like for illustrations it is hard to keep track haha. But I believe for this book I nailed the flow/thumbnail quickest of any book I have illustrated. The most tweaks I did was for when we were arranging the type with the art. But I would not have it any other way because text and art harmony is so essential. Our designer did an incredible job.

Thank you both for sharing this. What was the toughest part of writing or illustrating Tea is Love? What was the most fun?

Adib - The toughest part was finding the right word for each Tea is… statement. In some versions, there were two or three lines per spread, but what we found was that the text worked best when it was at its sparsest. But with so few words, each had to be exactly the right one, and they had to build one to the next to tell the story. There was nothing to hide behind!

Hanna - Like any book, research is always the toughest but it is also my favorite part of making a book. I needed to make sure my illustration from cultivating Pu-erh tea to depicting the interior of an apartment is accurate. My biggest homework was also to find how we can create connections throughout the book without making it too forced. When we decided on the mechanism where we follow one person from the previous spread to the next, and have each spread focus on a different person I needed to pay extra attention and make sure it all makes sense.  I needed to make sure each spread showcases the environment and event that feels real and different.  

Adib, did anything surprise or delight you when you first saw Hannah’s illustrations for the first time? Which is your favorite spread?

Text © Adib Khorram, 2025. Image © Hanna Cha, 2025.

Adib - Everything delighted me. I legit teared up as I got to the end. Hanna took the text and rendered the story out so lovingly, and it packs an emotional punch. I was always proud of the book, but I wasn’t expecting it to make me feel so intensely. It felt like being at my aunt’s house as she brewed Persian tea for me.

I agree that Hannah's illustrations capture your poems and the connections, joy, and love surrounding tea throughout the world. Hanna, is there a spread that you were especially excited about or proud of? Which is your favorite spread?

Text © Adib Khorram, 2025. Image © Hanna Cha, 2025.

Hanna - This is very hard... I can't help but be biased for the spread of the Persian Wedding - just because I looked up many wedding videos and was dancing to all of them (it's so joyous.) I think that the energy of new beginnings is just so fun to illustrate.  

Your illustrations are so stunning! Having been to my first Persian wedding this year, this brought back such fun memories. Is there something you want your readers to know about Tea is Love?

Adib - I hope the love comes through on every page.

Hanna - I might have spoiled it in the previous answer. But each spread is following a different person that was present in the previous spread(except for the first few spreads) so there is a fun I SPY element to this book. And I hope people have fun finding that connection and the different types of teas I illustrated in the book!

Adib, the love emanates from the test and illustrations! And Hanna, I love the connections woven between the spreads and the variety of relationships (as well as teas) that you captured in your images. Are there any projects you are working on now that you can share a tidbit with us?

Adib - I have a young adult novel, One Word, Six Letters, coming out next March! And I’m working on more things but I can’t talk about them yet.

Hanna - I can't share too much but I am illustrating and writing a book that is set for 2027! It features gardens and sparkles across the water. I am especially fond of the little critter I created as the main character. Also, I will be illustrating When Water Held Wings written by Julie Leung. It focuses on the demolition of San Diego's Chinatown so they can build the Panama - California Exposition in its place, it's a book that follows the viewpoint of a child during that confusing but resilient time. Also, it is about boats and the sea, so I am very excited to research and get to illustrating.

These projects all sound intriguing! Best of luck to you both on these projects. Thank you, Adib and Hannah, for stopping by and sharing with us. It was a pleasure chatting with you both.

To find out more about Adib Khorram, or contact him:

Website:  https://adibkhorram.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adibkhorram/?hl=en

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/adibkhorram.bsky.social

To find out more about Hannah Cha, or contact her:

Website:  https://www.hannacha.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannayoonicha/?hl=en

Review of Tea is Love

Succinctly written as a poem, this is a touching and engaging ode to tea and the many diverse ways it is enjoyed throughout the world.

Tea is Love

Author: Adib Khorram

Illustrator: Hanna Cha

Publisher: Dial Books/Penguin Young Readers (October 28, 2005)

Ages: 4-8

Themes:

Tea, connections, diversity, family, and cultures.

Synopsis:

A lyrical ode to the warmth, comfort, and traditions of tea drinking, from award-winning author Adib Khorram and Caldecott Honor and the APALA winner Hanna Cha

Tea is a plant. Tea is a ceremony. But most of all, tea is love.

Whether it's part of an elaborate ceremony, or a quiet cup brewed for one, tea holds a special place in the hearts of millions. This poignant, lovely picture book celebrates the practice of tea-drinking across various cultures and countries, and meditates on the many meaning the ritual holds.

Opening Lines:

Tea is a plant

Tea is a journey

What I LOVED about this book:

I love the opening of a child and grandmother in a tea field, on the side of a mountain, picking tea leaves. As well as the green beetle 'hiding' on a leaf. The up-close details of the leaves, beetle, and the two people are gorgeously contrasted by the slightly blurred watercolor mountain, clouds, and village.

I love that the illustration accompanying the "journey," offers the 'origin' story of tea - growing on a hillside, picked, processed in different ways, and finally loaded into the grandmother's truck.

Text © Adib Khorram, 2025. Image © Hanna Cha, 2025.

The next spread, "Tea is a rainbow," is such a joyous celebration of the grandmother's tea shop. From the workers unloading the truck and friends sharing tea, to others having a peaceful moment, the colors and details invite the reader to pause and pour over this illustration (pun intended).

Text © Adib Khorram, 2025. Image © Hanna Cha, 2025.

I wish I could share with you the rest of Hanna Cha's stunningly gorgeous sumi ink, watercolor, gouache, and chalk color pencil illustrations. You are in for a huge treat when you check out the book!

As Hanna mentioned above, from this point until the end, the book features tea's role in the lives of a character(s) seen in a previous spread. For instance, for the woman pondering a purchase above we get to experience how tea is love, a ceremony, and a memory for her and her partner and their family. The poem and illustrations beautifully weave together and highlight many different ways to make tea, from the various ingredients to the different procedures and utensils, ways (reasons) to enjoy tea, and the love that infuses it all. It also wonderfully explores a bit of the varied communities and cultures of the featured kids and families.

The spreads are tender, joyous, and cozy. Don't be surprised if you want to read it with your own cup of tea and share them both with someone you love. After all, as Adib Khorram notes, tea "unites friends and family all around the world." The author's note includes a brief overview of the history of tea. This treasure is a welcoming, inclusive, and loving celebration of tea, community, and family.

Resources:

• make your own teacups and teapot (with paper, toilet rolls, or pop bottles), then share a "cup" with some special friends or family.

• if you like tea, what is your favorite type? If not, what other hot drink do you like? Is there a place, time, or person you really like sharing a cup of tea with?