See also: Mushroom Fan Club by Elise Gravel; A Nest is Noisy by Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long; Fungi Grow by Maria Gianferrari

The primary text is full of wonder: "Tiny threads too small to see branch out, growing bigger...they pack together and rise." Four pages of dense back matter should answer any and all further questions about mushrooms - their parts, where they live, who eats them, "seeding the clouds," making spore prints, tips for observation, and further reading and a selected bibliography. The illustrations are rich and beautiful, many set in the nighttime world. ( )

A really pretty book that teaches about wild mushrooms.

Gorgeous illustrations (and font too!) are what really captured my interest with this book, but the text itself is simultaneously factual and lyrical. ( )

Gorgeous illustrations and prose with so much information condensed wonderfully for children - and children-at-heart! One of my favorite pages illustrates mushroom predators: "Many are tattered and torn by hungry visitors chomping [turtle], scraping [snail], gnawing [mouse], and burrowing [grubs]. Includes much more fascinating information in the backmatter. Beautiful endpapers, too. ( )

If not for all the additional information about mushrooms on the pages at the end of the book (I was hoping to learn facts such as these) I would have given this book a lower rating.

The illustrations and sparse text in the book proper did draw me in and were almost hypnotic, but I wanted more and was glad the information at the end of the book was included. I was captivated. I learned some things which is what I wanted.

The illustrations are big and fill the pages. They seem/feel almost fantastical but they’re of mushrooms and the nature around them. I liked them and liked those on the end papers and accompanying the text information at the end even more than the lush illustrations in the book proper. I think that most readers/viewers/listeners will love the pictures.

I’ve been remiss. This book inspired me to add a non-binary shelf for authors/illustrators. I am wondering if I have other read books shelved that belong on that shelf. It’s likely that I do. I will have to pay more attention from now on and hope to find and make any corrected needed for books I’ve already read.

In addition to the scientific information about mushrooms, at the end of the book there is a simple craft project to do and short lists for further reading and a selected bibliography.

I love (some kinds of) mushrooms and find them fascinating and I’m glad that this book is available and that I got a chance to read a copy.

4-1/2 stars ( )