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)