Peach Heaven

In 1976 Bucheon, young Yangsook is busy with homework, writing about “the best peaches in all of South Korea,” which are grown nearby. Though the “orchards painted the mountainside pink and orange,” the sweet fruits are expensive and can be hard to come by. Suddenly, an August storm sends peaches raining from the skies outside, carried down from the mountain. Yangsook gathers the windfall in an umbrella, and the family feasts on peaches that night. Later, realizing that the peach farmers on the mountainside have lost this year’s crop, the child comes up with a plan to restore part of their harvest. Modeling intergenerational community cooperation, Choi’s story, fully revised and re-illustrated nearly two decades after its initial publication, captures a moment in time via watercolor and pencil depictions that lean fittingly on green and peach hues. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. (July)