The Last Peach

The Last Peach by Gus Gordon
Published by Penguin Books Australia
Date: 2 April 2018
R.R.P. $24.99

Some of you may know Gus Gordon from the array of books he has written or illustrated over the years, such as Somewhere Else, The Catawampus Cat, and Herman & Rosie.  This is my first introduction to Gus and I have certainly been WOWED by reading The Last Peach.  It is funny, flows naturally, thought-provoking and cleverly written, I am so excited to be sharing it with you.

I like a book with a bit of a twist at the end, and this one has been done quite well and took me by surprise. The Last Peach by Gus Gordon is about two bugs on a summers day who happen upon the most delightful, round, juicy looking peach. The bugs talk a lot about the peach and listen to other bugs opinions about it as they come by.  The friends cannot make up their mind of what to do, think about different ideas for it, and begin to argue about who should have the peach…will they actually eat the delicious looking peach?  What is that fun twist at the end that will make you laugh?  I’m not going to spoil it but I invite you to grab yourself a copy and find out.

Apart from the wonderful twist at the end, this book is different to most picture books because it is written entirely in dialogue.  I am not sure that I have ever seen a book that has been entirely dialogue, it not only offers something unique to this story but any description is not missed because the dialogue tells us all that we need and the mixed media illustrations follow up with what is missing.

The mixed media artwork add to the quirkiness of the book.  The collage hasn’t simply been done out of plain paper but by marked paper by letters, words and small pictures, it adds character to the book.  Gus shared with me that this is the first time that he has made a book solely in one medium, I hope he does it again because I think it is largely effective.  Gus also mentioned that he deliberately cut out the paper with the type included because it demonstrates to children that artwork of this nature can be assembled to tell a story.  Gus Gordon clearly has a passion for sharing artistic concepts with children, encouraging them to think outside the box and make it their own just like he has with The Last Peach.

It is one I am happy to recommend and would love to hear what you think about it, that is if you can get past the delicious looking end pages.  Thank you Gus Gordon for sharing with me about your art work, out of a few words I could see that your passion for picture books and what they offer to children is strong.  Comment above if you want to know more about the book or if you have read it and want to tell me what you love about it.

Thank you to Penguin Books Australia for the opportunity to read and review this book.