Nice Work

by Nicholas Day

A wise and tender story about the patience needed for a tree–and a friendship–to grow, from award-winning author Nicholas Day.

All he wanted was a peach  Because when you eat a ripe peach, you get sticky and sweet, and if you don’t wash up, you stay sticky and sweet. And you feel like summer.

But when the tree arrives in the spring, it isn’t a tree. It’s a stick. Nice work, the boy tells his parents. You bought a stick. Even his friend Maya agrees. It’s a stick.  

Though what happens when you plant a stick, and it grows leaves? What happens when your best friend moves away? What happens when everything that was once clear starts to change? 
Here is a story of growth, the enduring power of friendship, the persistence of rabbits—and a single, glorious, impossible peach.

Genres: Picture Books

40 pages, Library Binding

Published May 12, 2026

About the author

Nicholas Day is the author of The Mona Lisa Vanishes, illustrated by Brett Helquist, winner of the Robert F. Sibert Award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for nonfiction; A World Without Summer, illustrated by Yas Imamura; and Nothing: John Cage and 4’33”, illustrated by Chris Raschka. For adults, he’s the author of Baby Meets World, a work about the science and history of infancy, which Mary Roach called “a perfect book.” He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with his family.

Reviews

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many families plant trees in the spring and young readers with families that plant trees in the spring will relate to this fun picture book.

The young boy thinks that his parents planted a stick when they bring the tree to be planted home. They tell him that it is a peach tree but he is skeptical because it only looks like a stick. The tree eventually sprouts its leaves and the little boy discovers that his friend Maya will be moving. He thinks that families should be more like trees and not move. The seasons pass and the tree continues to produce peaches year after year. The life lesson of learning that friendship endures and some things in life are constant is here in this picture book.

Nice Work is recommended for ages 4-8. It was published by Random House Studio, a division of Penguin/Random House. It has an ISBN of 978-0-593-80629-6.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy and his family plant a peach tree; well, it's a stick, really. But someday, with patience, it will become a peach tree. The boy's friend Maya suggests they plant more sticks and see what happens. Then Maya announces that her family is moving. The boy is crushed. A woman named Ruth moves into Maya's old house and is sorry that she's not his friend. They swap tree stories, as Ruth had a cherry tree when she was young. She tells the boy that she and the tree grew together until eventually, Ruth stopped growing but the tree kept going. Soon the peach tree finally bears one single peach and the boy excitedly writes to Maya to tell her.

A good story about patience.

[Read Ribbet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice Work is a beautifully written story that weaves a wonderful story about a peach tree and friendships. Both can change but with nice work, both can endure. The text and illustrations present the message subtly. Hala Tahbaub provides the softly drawn illustrations.

[Jerry]

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[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about patience. My kids (11 and 8) loved it and I might have a stick garden soon.

[Alonsonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

First half is laugh out loud funny, then it gets sad and the ending was just meh.

[terra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. Nice work.