Fungarium: Welcome to the Museum also details the overwhelmingly positive impact that fungi have had on human life. For example, the use of fungi in penicillin. Author Elise Gravel and her family enjoy mushroom hunting, something I can't say I knew was a hobby for some people. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling wonder over seeing that mushrooms grew overnight on the lawn, but beyond that, I don't think much of mushrooms. This little children's book, however, is the mushroom book I didn't know I needed. It actually got me interested in hunting for them myself. Join Elise Gravel as she explores the science of some of nature s weirdest and wildest characters mushrooms!

Their goal is to forage for mushrooms, a practice that requires some knowledge and expertise. The watercolor images set the imaginative tone and reflect just how exciting and magical mushrooming can be. Written for four to eight year olds, Mushroom Rain explores all of the ideas and interesting things about mushrooms that adults know and love. From the underground information networks to the wild and fascinating expressions of fungi in nature, your child will get an appreciation for the wonder that fungi inspire. For example, they’ll know which species are poisonous, which are safe to eat, how those species interact with their ecosystems, and much more. There’s also a section that gives general details about mushrooms and the fungi life cycle. The Governor General Award–winning author Gravel’s first book with Drawn & Quarterly, If Found . . . Please Return to Elise Gravel, was a Junior Library Guild selection and an instant hit among librarians, parents, and kids alike. Fostering the same spirit of creativity and curiosity, The Mushroom Fan Club promises to inspire kids to look more closely at the world around them and to seek out all of life’s little treasures, stinky or not!”

Mason Goes Mushrooming is an illustrated story with stunning pictures and is written in a classic children’s book format. As such, it interweaves educational ideas with an engaging story about a young boy who sets off into the woods with his dog. In our opinion, the best overall children’s book about fungi is Mushroom Rain by Laura K Zimmermann.

Fostering the same spirit of creativity and curiosity, The Mushroom Fan Club promises to inspire kids to look more closely at the world around them and seek out all of life's little treasures, stinky or not! ( From Drawn & Quarterly) At the end are photos of Gravel's children posed with huge amounts of mushrooms they collected. It's a nice personal touch, and I admire the author for getting her kids passionate about this wholesome activity. It is a long and detailed book which may be suited to slightly older children than the recommended age group. While it’s a generally scientific book written for seven to nine year olds, it still takes on a storytelling style and engages readers with a narrative. The story pieces itself together by focusing on various objects that occur naturally in the world, detailing them with beautiful photos and graphics. The book will resonate points of deep interest for any child who’s interested in various aspects of the natural world. Engaging, full of fun and with expressive and humorous accompanying artwork (although personally, I would rather not have the mushrooms illustrated with eyes, with smiling facial features, finding this a bit too fantastical for a book that yes, even with its light and chattering, often bantering narrative is still first and foremost non fiction and educational), what I am primarily taking away from Elise Gravel’s The Mushroom Fan Club is her total declaration of love for both mushrooms and mushroom collecting and indeed, with so enthusiastically and lovingly a presented narrative that really if you are not after having finished perusing The Mushroom Fan Club also and equally at least a budding and potential mushroom fan, there is in my opinion, something perhaps a bit wrong with your general attitude. For yes, Elise Gravel’s exuberant text, graced by her equally thus pictures, how every fungus described in The Mushroom Fan Club is almost like a personal friend of author/illustrator, and this even with regard to those featured species that are toxic, that are potentially lethal if consumed, it really should make every one of us at the very least interested in mushrooms and their attributes, how they grow, what they look like, which species are edible, which are poisonous etc.

The Best Children’s Books About Fungi: Reviewed and Ranked FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) 

If you’re looking for a children’s book that is about nature in general and not just fungi then we recommend Nature’s Treasures: Tales of More Than 100 Extraordinary Objects from Nature by Ben Hoare. So, it’s time to start teaching your kids about the fungi kingdom. It’s certainly something that doesn’t always get enough attention. Not only is it a full kingdom of life, but it’s also one that gets a relatively bad name. We tend to think of fungi in limited terms, mostly imagining them as mushrooms, and poisonous ones at that. Fungi is an expansive and interesting kingdom, however. All of these characters tell their story in personal terms rather than scientific detail. Children who read this book might see the forest floor in new ways, engaging with the natural world as if it were intelligent, sentient, and friendly. Lucy Knisley’s delightfully drawn memoir is a technicolor ode to cooking and eating.It presents her experiences growing up through a spectacle of mouthwatering foods, from sautéed mushrooms to dried hot pepper candies. Plus, almost all of the chapters end with recipes (carbonara, anyone?) so you can cook your way through the book. [ Buy: Bookshop] Seconds by Bryan Lee O’Malley