As your parents read the Silicon Valley Reads book, Epitaph for a Peach by David Mas Masumoto, you can read these books which have a peach connection:

Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
This is a seek-and-find book based on nursery rhymes and fairy tales. If you look carefully, you will see it all fit together. At the end, everyone eats pie. Can you guess which kind? The answer is in the title.

P is for Peach: a Georgia alphabet by Carol Crane
Did you know that the peach is the state fruit of Georgia? In fact, the whole state is known as the Peach State. Georgia’s official colors are peach and green. You can learn more about Georgia from reading this book.

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
After his parents die, James must live with his two cruel aunts. When he discovers a huge peach, he goes inside and discovers a new world of insects.

With his new "family," James has many adventures.

This book is also available as a talking book on cassette.

Peach Boy by William H. Hooks
This is a well-known Japanese folktale about Momotaro. An old couple wishes they had a son to protect them from the wicked oni monsters. As the woman is washing clothes, a large peach comes floating down the stream. Inside is a boy!

Three Sacks of Truth: a Story from France adapted by Eric Kimmel
A king who loves peaches declares he will give his daughter in marriage to the one who can bring him a perfect peach. Unfortunately, the king is not a man of his word. Petit Jean is clever, but will he be able to outwit the king?

The Perilous Pit by Orel Protopopescu
Katie is sitting under a peach tree eating a peach and reading a book.

Sounds nice and safe, doesn’t it? Well, when she gets to the pit, she can’t eat it of course, so she throws the pit over her shoulder and then – trouble, trouble, trouble!

Umbrella by Taro Yashima
The name of this little girl is Momo which means peach in Japanese. She is given two presents on her 3rd birthday, red rubber boots and an umbrella.

Unfortunately for Momo, it is summer and there is no rain. "Why doesn’t the rain fall?" she asked her mother daily. Her mother always answered, "Wait, wait; it will come." If you look, you can find the Japanese characters for peach.

Or you could eat a peach and watch this:

Video or DVD: James and the Giant Peach by Walt Disney Pictures There is also a movie soundtrack on CD.

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert
Shows the many different fruits and vegetables we can eat. The letter "P" has the most: papaya, parsnip, pea, peach, pear, pepper, persimmon, pineapple, plum, pomegranate, potato, and pumpkin.

Fruit by Cecilia Fitzsimons
With this book you can learn all about various kinds of fruits as well as some advice on growing them and activities (like make a lemon battery) and recipes (make Peach Melba).

The Fruit Group by Helen Frost
To get all the nutrition you need for a healthy body, you can eat according to the food pyramid. The fruit group is near the bottom. You need to eat two to four servings of fruit daily to give your body energy and to stay healthy.

This book has only 96 words!

The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons Follow along with Arnold as he does many activities based on his apple tree.

Watch the tree change as the seasons pass. Learn how an apple cider press works. Make an apple pie.

Growing Colors by Bruce McMillan
Beautiful photographs show the plant, tree, or bush that a fruit or vegetable grows on and describes the color. For example: Yellow = a corn stalk and an ear of corn and Purple = a tree and two plums.

Fruit by Jillian Powell
I hope you will enjoy reading this book as much as I did. Here are some of the things I learned: grapes have been grown and harvested since 4000 B.C., a pineapple on a coat of arms or on a gatepost was a symbol of wealth, there is a dessert called a fool, tennis players often eat bananas during long matches, and cranberries float!

Mr. Masumoto might like knowing that a peach is a token of friendship in China.

If you get hungry during your reading, you could make the recipes in the back of the book.

As you eat some fruit, you can sing these very short songs:

• Wee Sing and Play by Pamela Conn Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp The song "Apples, Peaches" is a way of choosing who will be It before playing a game.
• Teach a Toddler Playful Songs for Learning by Priscilla Hegner and Rose Grasselli On this compact disc is a medley of songs of which one is "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie." This is a short rhyme someone sings as the others hide under a blanket.

I’m sure your parents told you not to play with your food, but I’m glad Saxton Freymann likes to play with his food!

Dog Food by Saxton Freymann
Using only fruits and vegetables the author creates many different types of dogs, like a poodle made out of cauliflower, a shaggy dog made out of endive lettuce, and so on. The dogs illustrate descriptive phrases, for example, a dog made out of three white mushrooms like a snowman is "chilly dog".

How are you Peeling? Foods with Moods by Saxton Freymann
Discover lots of different feelings and moods through the expressive faces of sculpted fruits and vegetables.

Mr. Masumoto is a farmer of peach trees and grape vines, so you might enjoy learning more about orchards and farming. Try some of these books:

• One Crow a Counting Rhyme by Jim Aylesworth Animals, in groups of one to ten, do different activities on the farm during the summer. Then winter comes and see what the animals do.
• Natural Foods and Products by Gary Chandler and Kevin Graham Because Mr. Masumoto doesn’t use pesticides on his orchard, I included this book since it tells success stories about people who apply innovative techniques to produce natural foods. There are directions to start an indoor garden and information to get compost for your garden from a zoo, called Zoo Doo Compost.
• Little Farm by the Sea by Kay Chorao
  A farm is a busy place all year long as you can see when you read this book.
• Smallholdings Farm is busy with planting seeds in the greenhouse in winter, selling strawberries in spring, baby animals being born in summer, and picking apples in fall.
• Voices from the Orchards by Carolyn Downey Long ago, the Santa Clara Valley was filled with orchards. Many people living here did orchard work. This book has pencil drawings by Margaret O’Keefe and photographs that are explained by workers.

  It is really interesting reading how work was done and what people thought of the work they did. I remember cutting cots as a young child with my family and this book brought back the experience.

  This book also has information on "Where to find out more about the fruit industry" and "Places to see fruit orchards" which might be fun to do.

• Hooray for Orchards! By Bobbie Kalman and others
  Wonder how farmers like Mr. Masumoto grow peaches, then this is the book for you. I liked the chapter "Caring for orchards" because I could imagine walking down the path between the trees. Did you know a peach is a stone fruit? I didn’t. Seems funny to call something soft a stone, but that is because a peach has a hard pit inside it.

From Dawn till Dusk by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
When a girl’s brothers ask why their Scottish ancestors chose Vermont to be their home and farm, she reminds them of the good parts of living there, season by season. Parts like eating homemade doughnuts and maple candy after sugaring, riding bicycles through mud puddles in mud season, going fishing after fence building, and many other fun activities.

The Year at Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen
You can see how a farm changes during the different seasons. The large pictures show the animals and the farm children doing many activities throughout the year. My favorite month is April. What’s yours?

Lily’s Garden by Deborah Ray
Lily lives in Maine and her grandparents have moved to California. Lily and her Grandma exchange letters and packages that reflect the different planting and harvesting in the different climates. This book has lots of information and recipes to enjoy.

This Year’s Garden by Cynthia Rylant
Beautiful illustrations show the seasons as a family plans, tends, and harvests their garden.

Santa Clara County Library Children’s Services
Compiled by Linda Glawatz, Gilroy Library

2004