A Cup of Happy

Author/illustrator Wu offers a tale of three alien capybaras who travel to Earth and concoct a version of bubble tea.

Wu’s story follows the carefree adventuring of three particularly curious and inquisitive capybara friends from the plant Capyzenia: Cavin (who’s peach-colored), Capy (who’s brown), and Cali (who’s pink). Having heard about Earth and its famous bubble tea, the three friends travel there through a portal to learn how to make the drink. Being capybaras, they decide to include grass with the milk. The result is bitter, but after some tinkering, they’re happy with the outcome. They present their drink to various animals, including a turtle, bunny, duck, and several others—and in most cases, they make modifications to suit individual tastes. With friendships firmly established, Cavin, Capy and Cali leave for home. In this series entry, Wu narrates in straightforward prose, and the illustrations offer cute, large-headed animal caricatures. The three capybaras are fairly interchangeable and act as a collective, which evokes a sense of accord and effectively models the excitable spirit of friendship groups—especially those of older children who enjoy bubble tea. Of all the other animals, though, only the parrot and the giraffe evince real personality. A “kid-friendly” bubble tea recipe and two pages of facts about real-life capybaras and the history of tea are included.

A busy, bustling, bushy-tailed picture-book outing.