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.

Three Strike Summer by Skyler Schrempp

"First the rain stopped falling. Then the wheat stopped growing. Then the dust storms started coming. Then the tractor stopped working, and the jars in the cellar started dwindling, and Pa stopped joking and joshing like the words dried right up in his mouth."

Times are so hard. The have to leave the farm. This is the place where the young child Little Si is buried. Gloria is in such a rage. Everything is so unfair. She picks up a rock and hurls into the window of the bank manager's car!

"Gloria. Mae. Willard. ... I ain't ever been as mad with one of kids as I was today. Never. But I never raised a hand to you, and I'm not about to start. ... I raised you better than to be smashing things up and cussing at your sister and paying no mind whatsoever to your ma, so you knock it right off, hear?"

Gloria is the wild child of the family. She is not afraid to speak up especially about an injustice. One of the biggest of these in her life is that the boys will not take her seriously when she says she wants to play baseball. Gloria knows she is a fine pitcher but those boys won't even give her a chance. 

"She'd been sneaking off whenever they practiced and hanging around the baseball diamond, waiting and hoping they'd give me a chance."

And now they have to leave their farm and Gloria will have to find a new team and start all over again to try to convince these new kids that she sure is a real fine player. What will happen on this new farm in California? The family, and all farm workers, are treated so badly by the farm manager. Picking peaches is hard, hard work. And there are so many rules. Things were bad before but now they seem way worse. At every turn the family debits are rising. But for Gloria there is one glimpse of happiness - she manages to talk her way in the boy's gang and their baseball team and there is a big game lined up with kids on the next farm. Surely, with Gloria on their team, her gang will win. And somehow this will also make things fairer for her folks and for the other workers. All of this will mean breaking the rules and keeping secrets from the adults but Gloria is so determined to win and also to expose the corruption she has witnessed among the farm bosses. 

"When you don't fight for what you deserve, the world just digs its heel into you little bit more. If you don't speak up for yourself, probably no one else will ... "

Three Strike Summer is a punchy, inspiring historical middle grade book about family, baseball, and life on farms during the Great Depression. Featuring a spunky female protagonist who won’t take no for an answer, this book explores a wide range of themes from gender inequality to poor worker compensation and dealing with death and grief. Reading Middle Grade

This is one of those books that I just 'gobbled up'. I read it as an ebook during my recent trip. I love the way Skyler Schrempp describes the door knocking pattern - "a shave and a haircut, two bits". This book will also give readers a wonderful insight into life during the Great Depression and the beginnings of workers unions, worker saftey and workers rights. Listen to an audio sample read by the author. Here is the web page for Skyler Schrempp. 

I cheered when I read the review by Betsy Bird:

Three Strike Summer? The pun in the name is the name of the game. This here’s a baseball book, loud and proud. You’re fairly sure of the fact when, in Chapter One, Glo uses her golden pitching arm to nail a rock through that car window of the bank man repossessing their house. ... I don’t know it for a fact, but suspect a person wholly unaware of the rules of the game would still get swept up in Schrempp’s storytelling. ... For me, one of the best parts of the book was an almost off-handed comment from Glo’s ma late in the story. At the beginning of the book Glo is furious and baffled by her mother’s willingness to just pick up and leave the family farm without so much as a blink. When at last Glo is able to ask her about it, almost at the end of the book, her ma says honestly, “Aw, Gloria… You couldn’t have paid me a million dollars to keep on living in a house that my baby died in.” Glo’s little brother died, probably because of the Dust Bowl, in that home. It’s so simple and so human and so understandable. Plus, I love children’s books where kids get this sudden clarifying instant where they can see everything adults have to go through and try to hide.

Narrated by Gloria in a conversational tone that brings the setting to life, readers feel her grief, outrage, and gritty determination. Descriptions of the Dust Bowl years and hardscrabble life in the camps are searing, and Gloria matures as she learns about others’ struggles. While she organizes a ballgame, Pa organizes the peach orchard workers to strike for better conditions only to be betrayed. Pa is in danger of being clobbered by police until Gloria and her teammates intervene, illustrating the importance of hope, honor, and team spirit in combating hardship. An informative author’s note explains the historical context, including the reasons behind the all-White communities Gloria inhabits. Kirkus Star review

Here are some text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing:

"I knew that bank man was coming. I knew what he was there for. And I knew what would happen when he was done with us."

"He had taken the bank man outside so we didn't have to hear him beg."

"I wanted to belong somewhere, even if it wasn't Oklahoma. I wanted to be someone people listened to, even if I was loud sometimes and maybe said the wrong thing once in a while. ... And I wanted to play ball for real, not just by myself, knocking old apples out of a tree with a creek tone, or watching everyone else play. I wanted to be on a team."

"I missed her biscuits. I missed her breads. I missed her green beans ... I missed smoky bacon and golden, runny egg yolks. I missed her blackberry jams, dark and sweet enough to keep a smile on your face all night. And fritters fried."

"Anyone congregating in groups at any time of day will be personally escorted off the property. We employ good, decent folks here, not lazy sons of guns, not rabble-rousers, not Reds."

"Meanness is funny like that. The bigger you get the smaller, they have to make you feel."

"I just wat there trying not to see Davey falling again and again. Kicking myself for telling him to go up that ladder in the first place. Downright dumb. Downright selfish."

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