The Last Peach

Starred review from February 25, 2019
This existential meditation by Gordon (Herman and Rosie) deals with some big questions. Two wide-eyed insects contemplate a red-orange globe that hangs suspended amid green leaves. “Oh my,” one exclaims. “Now THAT is a fine peach!” They begin the discussion agreeably enough (“Let’s eat it. At once!”), but as others weigh in (“You can’t eat that peach!”), attitudes shift to anxiety (“We would probably... get big tummy aches”), then to fantasy (“What if we ate it and could suddenly do magical things?”) before spiraling into frank conflict: “ ‘That is MY peach!’ ‘No, it’s MY peach!’ ” Gordon composes leafy collage-style spreads in paper accented with snippets of vintage French type. The insects bear more than a passing resemblance to the clowns in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot; one has a hat and a curling proboscis, while the other sports antennae and a red schnozz. In the wistful ending, the two friends decide that the object of their desire is too beautiful to eat, denying themselves the pleasure they’ve been anticipating all along. And after they leave, another surprise awaits readers. Some desires, this sly fable suggests, may be founded on illusion. Ages 4–8.

Starred review from March 1, 2019
Two motley insects contemplate eating the last peach of the season.Gordon presents children with a timeless, rather adult dilemma: how to act in the face of irresistible temptation. Here, two thumb-shaped flylike creatures--one dressed in a Homburg hat and blue-and-white-striped body suit, the other in a red print shirt--encounter a sumptuous peach, rosy and golden as the setting sun, still on the branch, and begin to discuss its merits. "It's the most beautiful peach I've seen ALL summer," says the bug dressed in blue. "Wouldn't you agree?" "I do agree," responds the red-shirted friend: "In fact, it's the most beautiful peach I've seen in ALL the summers." The two quickly decide they "must eat that peach at once," but with one page turn, a venerable praying mantis, clad in top hat and cane, stops them, warning: "You can't eat that peach! It's the last peach of the season." In delightfully clever double-page spreads, the two friends then go back and forth, hilariously debating whether to devour the peach together or alone, to share it with others or to leave it entirely. Gordon's witty, collagelike mixed-media illustrations and spare, dialogue-only text not only get at the gnarly pit of indecision--serving up provocative behavioral binaries such as impulsivity versus reflection, indulgence versus sacrifice, hoarding versus sharing--but offer a surprise ending as well.Luscious, light, and thought-provoking: decidedly not to be missed! (Picture book. 3-8)

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May 1, 2019

PreS-Gr 2-In this picture book charmer, two insects spot a beautiful peach. They want to eat it, but a praying mantis announces that it is the last peach of the season. Another bug says it looks good, but it could be rotten inside. If they ate it, would they feel sick? The two main insects argue and debate, each one getting a different text font color to make the conversation parts clear. Is the peach magic? Should they share it with others? Perhaps write it an admiring poem? When they get into a physical fight over which one of them should claim it, they declare themselves unworthy, and then leave the peach alone. After they depart, the final image reveals a twist. The glowing orb they have been admiring is actually the sun, positioned so it appears to hang on a tree branch. The collage illustrations are made up of many different colors and types of paper that include words in French, while the end pages depict several varieties of peaches in a luscious photorealistic style. VERDICT Use with Du Iz Tak? and James and the Giant Peach to discuss conflict resolution or for a plant-themed storytime.-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2019
Preschool-G *Starred Review* Do you dare to eat a peach? Certainly the endpapers of this book, which illustrate a variety of mouthwatering peaches, inspire one to do so. Two small, long-nosed insects contemplate the beauty of a particular peach (the very last one of the whole summer), which hangs on a tree above them. They decide they must eat it at once! But when a third green insect with top hat and cane arrives, he cries, Stop! You can't eat that peach! It's the last peach of the season. Hmm. Another tubby, winged character arrives, suggesting that the peach may be stinky and rotten on the inside. Ugh. Well, they could share the peach with all their friends . . . or one could keep it from the other and devour it. Suspense builds, and the magnificent peach remains hanging uneaten, to be admired for its beauty. Contrasting font colors make this a perfect read-aloud for more than one speaker. Collages of fragments of printed words in French, combined with artwork done in watercolor, crayon, and pencil, are surrounded by generous white space, which offsets the round, juicy, delectable peach and the somewhat wacky sartorial dress of the bug-eyed insects with humor and delight. The final surprise ending gives a subtle nod to the ephemeral nature of desire.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2018
Gus Gordon delights and entertains with his newest picture book, a fable about two bugs who come across the most beautiful peach they’ve ever seen. In the beginning they’re overjoyed at their discovery, but it soon becomes apparent that such a peach also comes with a host of problems. At first, the friends are advised not to eat it at all: ‘You can bet it’s all stinky and rotten on the inside,’ is the claim of one well-meaning passerby. Next, they can’t decide whether they should share it with others or not—what if there is none left for them! Gordon’s mixedmedia art is fun and energetic, and kids will adore the charming anthropomorphic details he gives his creations. One particularly delightful page depicts a dinner party in which our two friends look forlornly at their miniscule servings while everyone else happily tucks in, including a caterpillar with a monocle and a stick insect with a rather elegant hat. The story is told entirely in dialogue, which makes the book a perfect pick for story time, and children aged three and up will also enjoy the clever twist at the end, which leaves the two bugs none the wiser. Bronte Coates is the digital content coordinator and prize manager at Readings