Tiny cups and saucers are a passage of childhood.

Two hamsters and a squirrel play Downton Abbey.

When my twins were two or three, we held a tea party with Woody, my old Skipper doll, and some stuffed animals in attendance.

Last year, we used one of my childhood tea sets and invited a stuffed squirrel and hamster to attend.

Akiko Miyakoshi’s book The Tea Party in the Woods takes animals and tea to a new level.

Her black and white drawings with touches of color depict Kikko taking a pie to her grandmother. She thinks she’s following her father through the woods but finds it’s really a bear on his way to a tea party.

Kikko realizes she’s at a tea party. The lamb in the coat gives it away.

It’s charming. Both Max and Calvin were thrilled to read about a Kikko – we have a friend named Kikko, from Japan, like the author.

“Her name is Kikko!”

Kikko isn’t quite sure what to think when she sees a table of animals having a lovely tea.

Neither is Max.

“I would be afraid that that guy would head butt me,” he said of the buck.

I wonder if this is my constant warning to be careful of the bucks that wander through our yard? Keep in mind, my husband calls me “Safety Mace.”

The animals escort Kikko safely through the woods. 

Kikko and Max realize the animals are nice. In fact, they are so kind they replace the pie that she has accidently squashed with an assortment of their own pies.

Calvin, my food lover with a sweet tooth, loves this part.

“They love all that pie!” Max agrees.

With help from her new friends, Kikko makes her way to grandma’s, pie in hand.

And her family must believe in safety too, because Miyakoshi’s characters – animals, dad, and grandma- all express concern that she was in the forest alone.

But she wasn’t, was she?