The Peach King by Inga Simpson illustrated by Tannya Harricks

"It was Little Peach who found their voice. Sing! Everyone sing! We all know the song!

Together the peach trees sang until they turned the wind around ... "

Little Peach Tree is a sapling in a vast orchard. They look up to the Peach King – a majestic tree standing proudly at the hill’s crown. Through the turning of seasons Little Peach Tree and the others in the grove sprout blossoms, fruit, then leaves and finally these leaves are blown away and the trees shiver through the colder winter months. Conditions are changing, though, and the people have to bring water to their precious trees. Just as the peaches are almost ready to harvest, a bushfire springs up and so all the fruits need to be gathered early. Meanwhile the Peach King stands to protect the orchard but there is nothing he can do to stop the fire.

"The Peach King leaned into the fire, spreading his branches wide - like a shield. The heat was fierce, his leaves shrivelled and crisped ... the Peach King was alight. Flames licked along his blackened branches, up into his crown."

Harricks’ sweeping, textured artwork deepens the sense of both beauty and impending loss. At the heart of this tale is courage: the Peach King’s sacrifice to shield the orchard and Little Peach Tree’s discovery of its own strength. Arts Review

Here are some other review comments.

Themes of stewardship and resilience are evident throughout, as well as an opportunity for research into the actual natural processes of renewal for certain types of trees after a fire. The fable echoes a long history of stories about youngsters rising to heroic royal ranks, whilst being distinctly Australian in its depiction of the flora and fauna, and the scourge of bush fires. The use of the peach seems to unite these narrative elements – like a nod to European fairytales as well as Australian farming. Storylinks

Check out the details of our IBBY art auction - we have two pieces of art from The Peach King - you could own a very special illustration from this new Australian Picture book. (see bottom of this post).

In many parts of the world (including Australia) we are feeling the devastating effects of climate change. Drought, bushfires and wild storms. These conditions are especially difficult for the people who grow our food. In this book the focus is a peach orchid. It is summer in Australia from December onwards and this is when we all enjoy delicious stone fruits like peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines and cherries. The Peach King is a fable but if you share this book with a group of readers in your library aged 9+ I would begin by talking about peach trees - and make sure you stop and look at the peach-filled end papers in The Peach King. You could also talk about tree life cycles and deciduous trees.

• Peach trees typically start producing fruit within three to four years after planting, depending on various factors such as variety and care.
• Factors influencing production include the type of peach tree, climate conditions, and overall maintenance practices, such as watering and fertilization.
• Younger peach trees may yield limited fruit, while mature trees (four to twelve years old) can produce significantly higher amounts, reaching up to 65kg annually.
• Regular pruning and fertilizing are crucial for maximizing fruit quality and tree health, especially during the early years of growth.
• Peach trees have a lifespan of 15 to 20 years, providing fruitful harvests if maintained properly throughout their life.

Publisher blurb (Lothian): When Little Peach Tree was just a sapling, all they could see was row upon row of other peach trees. And, on top of the hill, watching over the orchard - the Peach King. As seasons pass, bringing cycles of change, Little Peach Tree grows and grows. But darker changes are stirring. Soon rain is scarce, the forests turn brown, animals flee and the sky turns red. To protect the orchard, the Peach King faces grave danger and Little Peach Tree must find their voice.

Here are the teachers resources. It is also important to share the end note from this book where we read that Inga Simpson lived through the terrible bushfires of 2019-2020 and she did purchase a box of Araluen peaches which she later learnt were indeed picked just ahead of the fire.

"Spring came with a rush. Sap surging, buds budding, growing in spurts. The older trees seemed sooo slow to Little Peach, whose limbs were buried in blossom, like a coat of tiny roses."

 

The teacher's notes mention this book - I am very keen to read it:

This is not exactly related but I recently read this wonderful Middle Grade novel which featured a peach tree.

The Peach Thief

Here is a video on Instagram of Tannya Harricks painting the peach tree. And you can hear a reading of this book here.

Tannya Harricks has two beautiful original art works in our IBBY Mini Masterpiece art auction which begins this week! And both are from her new book The Peach King.

I am a HUGE fan of Tannya Harricks illustrations and art. Here are some of her books I have previously explored here:

Mallee Sky

Kookaburra

Night Watch

Inga Simpson is an Australian novelist and nature writer. She began her career as a professional writer for government before gaining a PhD in creative writing. In 2011, she took part in the Queensland Writers Centre Manuscript Development Program and, as a result, Hachette Australia published her first novel, Mr Wigg, in 2013. Inga has since gained a second PhD, in English literature, which examined the history of Australian nature writing. Her most recent adult title is The Thinning (2024: Hachette Australia | June 2025: Little Brown, UK) and her previous children's title is The Book of Australian Trees, illustrated by Alicia Rogerson (2021: Lothian). The Peach Tree story is mentioned in her adult novel Mr Wigg.

IBBY Australia Mini Masterpiece art auction - Meet Renee Treml

Check out the link to our IBBY Australia auction - 

you could own this sweet illustration - 14th - 28th November 2025 - act quickly 

American-born Renée Treml moved to Australia in 2007, where she was immediately captivated by the unique wildlife in this country. Drawing on her background in ecology, Renee’s began writing stories and creating illustrations that focused on animals and the environment. Renee works in her home studio in Fremantle, WA. She has written and illustrated several picture books including award-winning Once I Heard a Little Wombat, and Wombat Big, Puggle Small. She is also the creator of the hilarious graphic novels featuring Sherlock Bones and Ollie and Bea. 

Here is an interview with Kids' Book Review. Take a look at this greeting card by Renee Treml for La La Land. And I found another interview from 2009 written before she had published her first picture book!

Spread from One Very Tired Wombat

Kirkus said: ... her illustrations place beautiful pen-and-ink drawings against delicate pastel washes and capture lots of personality in her creatures. The judicious use of color and white space makes each two-page spread a work of art as well as a visual delight. Elegant, informative, engaging.

Renee sure does draw fantastic illustrations of wombats. In a previous post I talked about other illustrators who paint and draw this very appealing Australian animal.

Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery

Super Swifts by Justin Anderson illustrated by Clover Robin

Subtitle: The small bird with amazing powers

Super Swifts is set in Africa, Europe and the UK BUT we do have swifts here in Australia - ork-tailed Swift (Apus pacificus); House Swift (Apus affinis); White-throated Needletail (Hirundapus caudacutus) and the Uniform Swiftlet (Aerodramus vanikorensis). One of our Australian netball teams is named The Swifts!

I find the topic of bird migration endlessly fascinating. Click the label on this post to find more books on this topic - try to find Circle by Australian illustrator Jeannie Baker. 

Swifts are a family of highly aerial birds known as Apodidae, which reside within the Apodiformes order alongside hummingbirds. ... Swifts have small, weak legs, which led to them sometimes being depicted without feet historically. ...  There are about 100 species of swifts, which are known for their high speeds, with the white-throated needletail reaching up to 169 km/h. They have elongated wingtip bones and the ability to rotate their wings from the base, which aids in their maneuverability and efficiency in flight. Swiftlets have evolved a form of echolocation to navigate dark caves. These birds are found worldwide except in the extremes of the polar, desert, and some oceanic islands, and migratory swifts travel from temperate regions to the tropics in winter. Their nests, often attached to vertical surfaces with saliva or located in wall cavities, are unique—some are used in the traditional bird's nest soup. Swifts are insectivores, hunting mid-flight, and their breeding and development patterns are more similar to seabirds than passerines. While no swift species has been recorded as extinct since 1600, some are considered endangered or vulnerable ... (Source)

All about swifts:

• Coloured dark, sooty brown but can look black against the sky 
• Pale patch on the throat, but this is often difficult to see in flight 
• Long, pointed wings held in a ‘boomerang’ shape 
• Wings are narrower than those of a Swallow or martin 
• Short, forked tail which can be folded to a point 
• Bullet-shaped head 
• You’ll often hear them before you see them – they make an unmistakable, high-pitched ‘scream’ 
• Swifts can travel up to 500 miles in one day
• They 'sleep' while flying - this is called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, where one half of their brain remains alert while the other half enters a sleep state.
• Swift fly slowly through rain as a way to keep clean
• Swift mate for life
• They can catch as many as 50,000 insects in a day
• They can live up to 21 years

Here is a map showing the journey of one swift in 2010 and you could show this video to your students:

Image source: Turning the Stones

The first thing I noticed in the two books I read today about swifts (see below for the second title) is their large eyes. So, I went hunting for a photo of a swift.

Images source: Audubon Society

I also thought about collective nouns which is a topic I find quite fascinating. What do you call a group of swifts? I found four possibilities Flight, Scream, Flock or Kettle!

Then I found this one - a sweep of swifts:

Swifts are highly agile and acrobatic birds known for their remarkable speed and graceful movements in the sky. When witnessed together, their collective presence forms a breathtaking spectacle as they swoop, loop, and glide through the air, displaying remarkable synchronization and coordination. The term sweep embodies the seamless and synchronized movements performed by these swifts, as if they are brushing through the atmosphere with remarkable elegance. The sight of a Sweep of Swifts evokes a sense of awe and wonder, as these social birds create a hypnotizing performance while efficiently navigating their surroundings.

Publisher blurb: A swift may not look like anything special—it’s just a plain brown bird, small enough to nestle in the palm of your hand—but these superheroes of the avian world can fly incredible distances amazingly quickly, reaching speeds of up to seventy miles per hour and spending ten months of every year in the air. Follow one female swift from the steamy forests of tropical central Africa to northern Europe as she navigates arid desert and restless ocean, dodging predators along the way. Eating, drinking, and sleeping on the wind, she won’t rest until she’s reached her nesting site. Woven through with fascinating facts amplified in an author’s note and index, Super Swifts fuses gorgeous collage illustrations and a lilting text to evoke the grandeur of a voyage like no other—and introduce a singular bird with amazing powers.

Text in a larger font provides a smooth narrative, ideal for a read-aloud, while text in a smaller font offers intriguing facts. A series of text boxes describe the swifts’ symbiotic relationship with the louse flies that ride north in their feathers, lay eggs in swift nests, and send a new generation of swift lice south in the fall. Robin’s mixed-media illustrations show the changing scenery in double-page spreads; smaller vignettes depict nesting details and a thrilling scene in which our protagonist must evade an attacking falcon. Kirkus

Super Swifts is published by Walker Books. I need to explain this series (and my confusion). When Walker Books started this series, where a narrative is paired with facts presented on the same page in a smaller font,  they were called Read and Wonder. To me this was the perfect series name. Then many years later the name changed to Nature Storybooks. Same format, same fabulous topics and most importantly same highly skilled illustrators. Fast forward to today - Walker Books are still producing these wonderful books which need to be added to EVERY school and public library BUT now there is no series name.  I can only ask why?

Companion book (you need this one in your library too):

See inside this book here

I am a huge fan of collage art by Clover Robin - here is her instagram page. Here are some two books I have talked about here she has illustrated:

Counting Birds

Together

Other Read and Wonder or Nature Storybook titles:

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman

AMIR: The garden’s green was as soothing to the eye as the deep blue of that rug. I’m aware of color—I manage a fabric store. But the garden’s greatest benefit, I feel, 

was not relief to the eyes, but to make the eyes see our neighbors.

This book is such an interesting discovery. It is a book for Young Adult readers but I am sure adults will enjoy the way this book is written as a jigsaw puzzle where we meet a diversity of characters all linked through their connection with a community garden. (In the UK this might be called an allotment). Seedfolks was published in 1997 - I read an ebook version. The good news is the paperback [9780064472074] from 1999 seems to be available to order from your favourite independent book seller.

Publisher blurb: A Vietnamese girl plants six lima beans in a Cleveland vacant lot. Looking down on the immigrant-filled neighborhood, a Romanian woman watches suspiciously. A school janitor gets involved, then a Guatemalan family. Then muscle-bound Curtis, trying to win back Lateesha. Pregnant Maricela. Amir from India. A sense of community sprouts and spreads. 

Characters

• Kim: A Vietnamese girl mourning her father, who plants beans to connect with him.
• Ana: An elderly Romanian woman who initially distrusts Kim but later helps tend the garden.
• Wendell: A school janitor who supports Kim and contributes to the garden.
• Gonzalo: A young Guatemalan boy who feels responsible for his uncle and finds purpose in gardening.
• Curtis: A muscle-bound man trying to win back his ex-girlfriend through gardening.
• Leona: A passionate woman who fights to clean the lot and grows goldenrod, believing it has healing properties.
• Maricela: A pregnant teen who learns to care for plants and finds hope for her future.
• Amir: An Indian immigrant who grows eggplant, sharing his heritage with others in the community.
• Tío Juan: Gonzalo’s uncle, a farmer who finds joy in sharing his knowledge with children.
• Sae Young: A Korean woman who finds solace among neighbors as she tends to the garden.

Here is the Kirkus review. There is a link to book club questions on the publisher web page. Wikipedia have more plot details. 

Listen to a discussion about his book with All Things Considered.

Quick facts (Source Audible blog)

• Seedfolks features 13 distinct narrators, each telling their own chapter of the story.
• Despite its large and diverse cast of characters, the book is only 80 pages long.
• The story is set in Cleveland, Ohio, and spans one year, from the planting of the first seeds to the following spring.
• Seedfolks was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults in 1998 and won the Buckeye Children's Book Award for ages six to eight in 1999.
• Seedfolks has been adapted into a play and performed on Broadway.
• The audiobook version features 13 different voice actors to represent each character.

Here are a few text quotes:

KIM: All his life in Vietnam my father had been a farmer. Here our apartment house had no yard. But in that vacant lot he would see me. He would watch my beans break ground and spread, and would notice with pleasure their pods growing plump. He would see my patience and my hard work. I would show him that I could raise plants, as he had. I would show him that I was his daughter.

WENDELL: There’s plenty about my life I can’t change. Can’t bring the dead back to life on this earth. Can’t make the world loving and kind. Can’t change myself into a millionaire. But a patch of ground in this trashy lot—I can change that. Can change it big. Better to put my time into that than moaning about the other all day. That little grammar-school girl showed me that.

LEONA: There were probably lots of folks who’d want to grow something, just like me. Then I studied all the trash on the ground. Don’t know why anyone called that lot “vacant.” The garbage was piled high as your waist, some of it from the neighborhood and some dropped off by outside people. The ones who don’t want to pay at the dump, or got dangerous chemicals, or think we’re such slobs down here we won’t mind another load of junk. ...  The gardeners had made some trails through it. But I knew precious few would join ’em until that mess was hauled away.

NORA: That small circle of earth became a second home to both of us. Gardening boring? Never! It has suspense, tragedy, startling developments—a soap opera growing out of the ground. I’d forgotten that tremolo of expectation produced by a tiny forest of sprouts. What a marvelous sight it was to behold Mr. Myles’ furrowed black face inspecting his smooth-skinned young, just arrived in the world he’d shortly leave. His eyes gained back some of their life. He weeded and watered with great concentration.

Paul Fleischman grew up in Santa Monica, California. The son of well-known children's novelist Sid Fleischman, Paul was in the unique position of having his famous father's books read out loud to him by the author as they were being written. This experience continued throughout his childhood. Paul followed in his father's footsteps as an author of books for young readers, and in 1982 he released the book "Graven Images", which was awarded a Newbery Honor citation. In 1988, Paul Fleischman came out with "Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices", an unusually unique collection of poetry from the perspective of insects. This book was awarded the 1989 John Newbery Medal. Factoring in Sid Fleischman's win of the John Newbery Medal in 1987 for his book "The Whipping Boy", Paul and Sid Fleischman became to this day the only father and son authors to both win the John Newbery Medal.

The King and Nothing by Olivier Tallec translated by Nick Frost and Catherine Ostiguy

"There was once a king who had everything."

Stop and think about this sentence and the title. Now go onto this sentence:

"He lacked almost nothing."  

Wait a minute the king interprets this as he lacked Nothing. He needs Nothing. He is a collector and so he is missing this 'thing' called nothing.

Perhaps Nothing is something tiny - like a microbe. Or maybe he can find Nothing in the desert or perhaps in the vast night sky. The king demands everyone in the castle - someone must bring him Nothing. Even a tiny leaf is actually something and burning it just leaves ashes. He cannot even do nothing because that leads to daydreaming. He decides he might find Nothing if he gives everything away. He has an amazing collection of stuff but it all needs to go. The end page is sure to give you and your group of older students some thing to think about. 

Bookseller blurb: There once lived a king who had absolutely everything—and we mean everything. From elephants without trunks, to caramel-flavored ice skates, to caterpillars on bicycles, and even storm clouds that refused to make lightning. Yes, there was simply nothing you can imagine that this king did not have . . . well, except for nothing itself. From author-illustrator Olivier Tallec, The King and Nothing is the wonderfully whimsical and philosophical take of one person who searches high and low for nothing, only to encounter something at every turn. Just how far will the king go to find nothing?

Heady stuff, but potentially thought-provoking fare for budding existentialists. Kirkus

Despite his important anti-materialist message, the book’s cartoonish characters all sport big noses and googly eyes, which add to the fun. Even very young children will be able to grasp that the king’s library and cabinet of curiosities (bulging with rain clouds, sandwiches, bats, cacti, and moon boots) contain more than enough stuff for a lifetime. A timely message about how the chaotic mess of too many possessions can be countered with thoughtfulness, a desire for simplicity, and a deep clean out of one’s closet. YS Book Reviews

"He'd always been told you can find anything in books, so surely they would also be a good place to find Nothing. But the king quickly realised that although he had millions of books, their pages were always filled with something, a prince in love, different ways to repair a spaceship, or simple ways to prepare French-fry cakes. Decidedly, Nothing was not hiding in his library."

The French title is: Le roi et Rien.

Olivier Tallec graduated from the Ecole Supérieure d’Arts Graphiques in Paris and worked in advertising as a graphic designer before devoting himself to illustration. He has done many illustrations for newspapers and magazines and has illustrated more than thirty books for children. He lives in Paris.

One of the things I miss now that I no longer work in a school library is connecting books either in our library sessions or for staff. If I was sharing The King and Nothing these are the two books I would use as comparison texts (or just read for fun!).

The Greatest Treasure of Charlemagne the King

IBBY Australia Mini Masterpiece art auction - Meet Gabrielle Wang

Begin with my previous post about Gabrielle Wang.

Gabrielle Wang is an award-winning Australian author and illustrator whose stories often blend Chinese and Western culture with elements of fantasy. A former Children’s Laureate, she draws on her rich heritage and love of art to create imaginative, heartfelt books for young readers.

Our IBBY Australia Mini Masterpiece auction has over 45 pieces including this very special illustration by Gabrielle Wang. The auction begins on 14th November.

This piece is titled Sweet Hammock

Here are some recent books by Gabrielle:

Silken Thread

Zadie Ma and the Dog who Chased the Moon

Here is the illustrated card made by Gabrielle Wang for the opening of the Melbourne Bookshop - The Little Bookroom. Twenty-Five illustrators were invited to interpret the famous bookshop logo which you can see below the piece by Gabrielle.

IBBY Australia Mini Masterpiece Art Auction - Meet Dub Leffler

Dub Leffler is an illustrator, writer, animator and mixed media artist, working in the arts through books, film, television, muralism and art education. ...  He is a prominent children’s book illustrator and author, collaborating with Sally Morgan, Banksy, Coral Vass and others, and is known for his soft realistic portraits and emotional landscapes. He is descended from the Bigambul and Mandandanji people of southwest Queensland as well as being of French, Syrian and Irish heritage. ... His award-winning bestseller picture book Once There Was a Boy (2011) received international recognition, was acquired by the Library of Congress and was featured several times at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. More recently, Leffler illustrated Sorry Day (2018), written by Coral Vass, which won the 2019 Eve Pownall Award for Information Books from the CBCA. Black Cockatoo (2018), which he illustrated, was also an Honour Book that year. At last count, Dub has created 25 books. (Source Dub Leffler)

In 2011 Dub Leffler spoke with Kids' Book Review about his work 

Here are the two pieces Dub Leffler has generously donated for our IBBY Australia online Mini Masterpiece art auction:

From Rocky and Louie (see book cover below)

From Sorry Day (see book cover below)

And here are some of his books (all of which are sure to be in your local or school library):

Our Dreaming was submitted for the CBCA awards in 2022. Here are some judge's comments (I was one of the judges):

I do hope there will be an audio version of this or perhaps a video version so children can hear the Gundungurra words. The illustrations in this book add a gentle mood and beautifully compliment the wisdom of the text. The lines “it is our identity, purpose and responsibility to our community” are so powerful. The dedication by Dub Leffler is wonderful and would be a perfect way to begin a discussion about this book with a group of students. This book will show readers the importance of respecting and sharing dreaming stories. The reader is taken on a gentle journey of discovery too, with Gundungurra words used in such a natural way. The word list and pronunciation guide will give Non indigenous readers an opportunity to engage with and learn new words. Dub Leffler’s illustrations are perfect, drawn in muted, earthy tones, that also reflect the colours of the land. His work has a lightness of touch. Some pages are almost tactile. 

From the delicate watercolour/mixed media illustrations to the gentle tone of this almost sacred poem this book calls the reader into it ... Saunders has captured this voice, and Leffler generously invites us in. The production of this book including artistic endpapers that are like watching an orchestra tune up, matte buff stock, a text type which echoes the transparent nature of the watercolour images and a cover sprinkled with foil stars/ make this a book to be proud of.

I really love how the Indigenous words are integrated seamlessly into the English text to create this bilingual celebration of culture – and I fully appreciate the glossary and pronunciation guide at the back. The Australian life depicted in the illustrations are wonderfully realistic ... we get different views – some close ups, some long shots, some birds’ eye views – to get a real sense of place. It’s refreshing that the central characters are echidnas; a perfect choice for this slow and contemplative journey across the land. This is a book that will enrich readers’ experiences and understandings – of Indigenous culture, history, and language.

Bindi

Frog finds a Place

Dub also has an illustration in this book:

The Bicycle (2011) features separate illustrations from internationally acclaimed artists - including Quentin Blake, Shaun tan, Tony Ross and Freya Blackwood - which celebrate the liberating joy of two wheels. Read this from Kids' Book Review

In 2020 Dub Leffler created our IBBY Australia New Year greeting card which was shared with the 85 sections of IBBY.