Every Peach Is a Story

Three generations of a Japanese American family pass down embodied wisdom in this tender seasonal tale authored by a father-daughter team. In spring, as young Midori walks with Dad and Jiichan through a peach orchard, Midori bites into a crunchy fruit. Jiichan, who advises that a peach is ripe “when it tastes like a story,” compares the peaches to their ancestors’ early years in America, as green-inked images depict their incarceration. When warmer temperatures turn the peaches—and scenes—yellow, Dad talks about how the family farm began. And in summer, as the images embrace warm oranges and pinks, Midori at last bites into a ripe peach that floods her with appreciation for her family’s history. Tamaki’s acrylic ink, graphite, and digital illustrations echo the spare beauty of the prose and fluid brushwork reminiscent of Japanese sumi-e. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)