Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The phenomenal capabilities of fungi star in this lightly informative and humorous profile. Using the titular thought experiment as a jumping-off point, first-person text spoken by pink-skinned, red-haired young human mycophile Leo reflects on some forms that a fungus can take, including "spongy," "fan-shaped," and "polka-dotted." Settling on a red-topped, rounded appearance, Leo goes on to envision life as a 'shroom, from getting around to eating to meeting others: "If I were hungry... I'd find my own way to eat at the table." A definition of mushrooms' fruiting body unfortunately limits its shape to "a stem with a cap on it," and informative commentary, provided throughout by worms, butterflies, and other critters, remains largely high-level ("It surrounds its food when it eats. And it doesn't have to chew"). In bold-hued digital and marker art, geometric shapes lend Stella's spreads a blocky, elementary vibe that suits the kid-centric text, which playfully but profoundly concludes with its subject's ubiquity even beyond forest ecosystems: "There's always a fungus among us." Back matter includes diagrams, facts, and further resources. Ages 5--9. (Mar.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2--Fungi are everywhere. They surround us and are in us. They are not animal or plant. Very little is known about them. This colorful introduction explores the mysterious world of fungi through the eyes of cartoon character Leo. If Leo were to become a fungus, he could travel the world yet stay in one place, or in many places. He could be underground and above. He could be tiny and huge, transparent, and polka-dotted. He could be helpful to plants and humans, perhaps helpful in cleaning up Earth's pollutants. But this is Leo, and mostly he would be great at playing hide and seek. In an afterword, fungus components are compared to Leo. Also offered is additional information, only hinted at in the main text. This is useful as an introduction to a little-known or understood subject. VERDICT Cartoon-style colorful illustrations give basic information on fungi for younger science students.--Eva Elisabeth VonAncken
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A quirky introduction to fungi, translated from Italian. In the first pages, small, pink-skinned Leo rides a bus, then fantasizes about an alternative identity as a fungus. A fungus, he says, could be hard to spot--indeed, since readers may not yet know what a fungus is. When we're shown a variety of fungal forms, they all look like mushrooms, and Leo is later depicted as a typical hemisphere-on-a-stem. Bystander creatures eventually offer some information: "A fungus is a tangle of tiny tubes." Incongruously, fungal bodies are said to change shape constantly, "like a bowl of spaghetti." (Do noodles mutate?) The statement "A fungus is always growing in different directions" is accompanied by a potentially confusing image of a rather menacing, yellow, not-to-scale, boalike creature invading a house and garden, and a fungus is shown eating some dismayed children's birthday cake. But the author also notes a positive aspect of fungi: their potential to clean up pollution. Known for her spare, shapely designs, Stella uses flat, often geometric forms and primary colors to emphasize the paradoxical nature of fungi: living organisms that are neither plants nor animals. The backmatter presents more information, but words that might help readers associate fungi with their own understanding of the world--for instance, rot, rash, compost, microscopic, or antibiotic--are not to be found. The pictures are pleasing, but how much readers will learn here is questionable. Characters vary in skin tone. Attractive illustrations struggle to convey adequate information about fungi. (a few things we know about fungi, glossary, bibliography, further reading) (Picture book. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
