Representation in The Tea Dragon Society

While representation is important for all communities at all ages, it can become especially important for young readers as a result of the need to see their lived realities reflected in the fictional characters that they consume. #teadragonsociety 1/12

In her landmark work The Queer Child. Kathryn Bond Stockton discusses how children who exist outside of socially accepted norms (such as the sex and gender binaries) experience an altogether different childhood that extends into an altogether different life. 2/12

Stockton suggests, however, that fiction has historically been a pivotal site of resistance to this construct: “The silences surrounding the queerness of children happen to be broken – loquaciously broken and broken almost only – by fictional forms” (2). 3/12

O’Neill, in an interview, describes how “Portraying an inclusive world is fundamental to me, especially in a fantasy setting.” This is reflected in all of O’Neill’s publications to date. The author elaborates: 4/12

“I’ve tried to create worlds in which children who belong to marginalized groups (and those who don’t) can see how the world could be at its best, which I hope provides some peace and comfort in the work they read.” 5/12

The story also features a canonical MLM relationship between Ezekiel and Erik, who are presented as committed life-long partners. While this is important, it is perhaps even more important that the series’ protagonist, Greta, is implied to have romantic feelings for Minette, a WLW relationship. 6/12

While this is not canonical in the book, it’s actually affirmed by the card game (thus an interesting example of transmedia storytelling). Scholar Mel Gibson notes how a card in the game “uses part of a panel from the first graphic novel where Minette surprises Greta with a thank you kiss on the cheek. 7/12

“In the graphic novel the reader sees Greta’s surprise at this act, but the image is cropped on the card, making it into a close-up of the kiss. That the card is captioned “Young Love” means that it moves away from implying a possible future relationship to presenting a current one.” 8/12

Sexuality is, of course, not the only important element of representation in the book. We also see attention to disability, both physical and mental (Erik and Minette), race (expressed through both skin colour and fantasy species) and others. 9/12

Metatextually, we should likewise note that Kay O’Neill is a widely beloved children’s author who has publicly declared their preference for genderless pronouns at a time when other beloved children’s authors have publicly expressed support for a binary definition of gender. 10/12

In consequence of this, The Tea Dragon Society has been widely banned and/or challenged in the United States. You can find it on Pen America’s list of banned books. There’s also positive attention from the bannings: TDS made Queerbrarians list of banned books summer reading challenge, for example. 11/12

This is all just to add some nuance and specificity to a readily apparent property: The Tea Dragon Society is a strong example of a youth-facing graphic narrative with a dedicated commitment to progressive representation. 12/12