I love fungi and took a mycology course in college, so when I saw a children's book focusing on teaching young children about them I had to grab it. However, I didn't really like this and feel like it would have only confused a child being read this book.

The art style is very simplified and would have been nice for easy-to-see drawings of the fungi in question, but I felt too often the mushroom was being drawn too like a person instead, causing confusion.

The beginning where they explain the different shapes of fungi, as well as the end where they go through a brief overview of them, worked and the simplified art style did not take away from it. If the middle portion of the book was more set up like these ones, I think the book would have been a better introduction to mycology to a young child.

However, during the main portion of the book, I MYSELF was confused at times with what was being portrayed or attempted at being explained - and I'm 29 years old with a biology degree who took a mycology course for fun. There were also a few times I felt like more information than necessary was given to explaining a concept, as for a young child I feel like simpler is better.

As I'm not a child, nor do I have one to show this book to, I have no definitive evidence that this wouldn't work for a young child - but I'm fairly certain if I were a child I would have been confused and uninterested in what was being taught as I'd feel like I was being talked down to.

I will say that I think this book could be a good introduction to fungi, as long as you had another book nearby to help answer any questions your child would have after finishing it.

Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Lerner Publishing Group/Millbrook Press for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.