Little Guides to Nature: Hello Fungi

By Author / Illustrator

Nina Chakrabarti

Genre

Environment & Nature

Age range(s)

Publisher

Laurence King Publishing

ISBN

9781510230453

Format

Hardback

Published

14-09-2023

Synopsis

Get outside and explore the fascinating world of fungi with this beautifully illustrated pocket guide.

Did you know that fungi are not quite plant, not quite animal and not quite bacteria, but a unique organism in a kingdom all of their own? Beautiful gallery-style pages showcase a fascinating world of fungi, including glow-in-dark fungi, the funky fungi that give off the strongest smell and the most colourful fungi. Creative off-the-page activity spreads include how to make a spore print and a recipe for delicious store-bought mushrooms on toast.

With tips on mushroom identification (including the ones to avoid!), fungi-based activities to enjoy, and a guide to the most colourful and unusual mushrooms, this little book will provide hours of pleasure, both indoors and out.

Be inspired to go outdoors and get up close with nature with this brand-new series from internationally bestselling illustrator Nina Chakrabarti. Also in this series: Hello Trees, Hello Bugs and Hello Fossils and Shells.

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Reviews

Jane

Glance at the common features of all four books in this series and the librarian/teacher/book-buying parent will soon be persuaded to invest: helpful hardback format suited to taking outdoors; as is their fit into a rucksack pocket; quality paper for durability; stylish and colourful illustrations; a good selection of facts; inclusion of practical activities which children could easily do, e.g. making a leaf or spore print, building a bug hotel, and creating trace fossils; quotes from literature, poetry or celebrities at the beginning and, at the end, bullet-pointed encouragement to be kind to these natural phenomena.

These books tell children what to look out for and help them to understand a little more about what they might find under a stone, in the garden, on the beach or out in the woods or park. Thus equipped, they could soon become astute and informed observers of nature, whether already very keen or just inquisitive. So, schools/parents: get some copies (duplicate, if possible) for your library, forest school, classrooms and bored-in-the-holiday pile.

I found Little Guides to Nature: Hello Fungi aided my still basic understanding of fungi at least as well as other larger volumes. I particularly liked the separate focus on different categories of fungi: 'tiny', 'helpful', 'decomposers', etc, with yet more types identified by other features, e.g. ability to glow in the dark, smell, habitat, and toxicity. I also liked the inclusion of a recipe for mushrooms on toast (knowing that readers have, from the start, been warned to never touch or pick mushrooms in the wild). The addition of interesting historical facts and 'do not kick or tread on fungi' also gets my approval.

48 pages / Reviewed by Jane Rew, school librarian