Nice work

A peach tree's slow growth gives way to a budding understanding of change and time in this profound picture book from Day (How to Have a Thought) and Tahboub (Just What to Do). When their parents say there's no such thing as a marshmallow tree, the book's pale-skinned young narrator chooses a peach tree to plant, described in everyday eloquence: "Because when you eat a ripe peach, you get sticky and sweet, and if you don't wash up, you stay sticky and sweet. And you feel like summer." But the bucketed bare-root plant that arrives falls far short of those vivid expectations. "Nice work," the narrator says with classic kid sarcasm; "You bought a stick." As the tree matures, growing largely underground, big changes--a neighbor's move, a birthday--teach the child that life is full of fluctuation. Soft, muted tones and unpretentious linework give each seasonal shift quiet weight, while the interplay between the narrator's close observations and the tree's steady, unhurried presence reinforce the book's meditation on patience. By story's end, the once wry "nice work" becomes a genuine recognition of the patience required to appreciate development: one day, "the tree, my tree, will be old. But its peaches will always be new." It's a gently philosophical gem that trusts young readers to sit with life's slower rhythms. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Brenda Bowen, Book Group. Illustrator's agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (May)

A child details the family peach tree's progress, from its sticklike beginnings to its second-year harvest: a single peach. When the peach-stick's planted, the youngster's best friend, Maya, suggests that they plant sticks, too. As the little tree grows roots underground (prodigiously illustrated by Tahboub), more change ensues. The protagonist celebrates a birthday in August, Maya moves in the autumn, and our hero endures a cold, lonely winter. The children write letters--a lovely testimony to nurturing a friendship--and Maya asks about their stick forest. (Tahboub cheekily obliges, providing scribbly, spring-green foliage.) With the arrival of an elder named Ruth the following spring, a mutually welcome bond, liberally sweetened with Ruth's oatmeal cookies, sprouts between her and the narrator. She describes her childhood cherry tree, which also grew taller than she, maintaining that the tree kept growing while she stopped. Yet she agrees when the child counters, "You grew underneath." A single flower--"a promise"--appears on the peach tree. In summer, the child shares a peach wedge with Ruth, vowing, "Next year, you get a whole peach." Imagining the tree after many years, Day's narrator bestows a final gem: "My tree will be old. But its peaches will always be new." The child's different friendships and the tree's slow maturation yield thematic treasures about growth, change, and aging, anchored by the titular refrain, by turns reflecting sarcasm and genuine pride. Most characters are pale-skinned; Maya is brown-skinned. Wisdom in a small package.(Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.