The Most Perfect Persimmon

A child worries about a harvest ahead of a much-anticipated visit in Chung’s waiting-focused debut. Pigtailed, smiling Joo Hong gasps at the tree in her new yard, where persimmons hang in profusion, “round like a full moon. Amber like the morning sun.” She picks a perfect-looking orb, asking whether her grandma can visit now, to align with the fruits’ emergence, but Mama tells her that they have to wait awhile. Impatient, Joo Hong vows to watch over the fruits’ ripening. The child cares for the tree and harvests its fruit with her mother, but when the persimmons become spotted and shriveled, she believes them “no longer perfect.” Happily, Grandma’s arrival reveals fruits whose final form speaks to the tenderness they’ve received. Digital illustrations employ a blue-green palette against which the titular fruits pop under the care of the work’s take-charge protagonist. An author’s note concludes. Characters cue as being of Korean heritage. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)