Review: Fungus Is Among Us! by Joy Keller

Fungus is Among us

Written by Joy Keller

Illustrated by Erica Salcedo

Published:  Innovation Press

Year: 

Ages: 5-10

Pages: 40

Awards:

  

 

   I promise, it is only a coincidence that I checked out "Fungus is Among Us" from the library the day before starting "The Last of Us"!  However, I must say that having both going through my head once really tickles my dark humor bones.  

The Illustrations

     Erica Salcedo's illustrations work wonderfully with this story.  The fear of the main character was communicated well. 

    My two year old, who's learning body language right now, really got since of fear and drama from the main character's reactions, but not so badly that she didn't enjoy the book.  

 In contrast, the various fungus, which are just going about their cute little lives, are illustrated with bright eyes and pleasant expressions showing that there really is nothing to be afraid of.  It's clear they don't want to harm her, nor do they really care that she's afraid of them.  I enjoyed the drama of it.  

The Story

    A girl is walking through the woods when she spots a mushroom.  Then, thanks to the voice of an unseen narrator, she gradually begins to notice that there are mushrooms everywhere.  Not only that but there is fungus everywhere - the trees, her yard, her fridge, bathroom even her skin.  Everything is being fed on by fungus!  She panics until she is reminded that her lunch is also made of tasty fungus, and that her compost wouldn't compost without fungus - nor would anything else.  

Author Joy Keller

Now she goes for her walk with confidence that fungus is among us and that is ok!
   In addition to the lyrical meta-story above there are also fun fungus facts that supplement the story. These facts teach the reader what fungi are, how they spreads, and why they are important. 
   

 What I Liked!  

 As a horror enthusiast, I enjoyed this thrilling approach to an educational book. I went into "The Last of Us" with no idea what the plot was, so I was double trilled with the dramatic irony of having just read "Fungus Among Us".   The truth is many kids, and adults, are afraid of fungus.  So using that fear to teach about them was brilliant, in my opinion. 

     This story is well written and so are the facts.  The lyrical paragraphs made the story easy to read.  The bright and dramatic illustrations held my attention til the end.  

What I Loved

I'm a nature nerd so I actually loved the fungi facts.  I'd never had it explained so plainly just why fungi are not plants, or how compost works. Fungi are really so complicated that it's hard for educated professionals to beak them down to simple, factual, teachable bites.  Joy Keller did this brilliantly.  For example, how the fungi in the tree are two things once (algae and fungi).  I've heard this before as a debate, as though nature is so black and white that they had to be one thing or the other. But the idea that they is  a possible symbiotic relation makes much more since.  Scientists are discovering just how symbiotic fungi are with every living thing on Earth and that's amazing!  Also, I didn't know that dandruff was caused by an imbalance of fungi on or in the human body until reading this picture book!  

Disliked

I didn't enjoy how much the fungus facts interrupted the flow of the story.  Even the above YouTube clips of the read-aloud were broken into two videos to avoid ruining the flow of the story bits.  

    However, I don't know the solution for this because I liked the fungus facts and I wouldn't want to cut them out.  I'm also not so naive as to suggest that Joy "just make the facts rhyme too" as was suggested on Goodreads a few times.  

   As a writer of a lyrical picture book, I understand that it's not so simple.  I believe the writer/editor, whoever made the choice to put them together, did the best they could with it.  I'm happy the facts were not cut out al together, but it is the only thing I can say I disliked about the experience of reading the book.

      If I were to purchase this book to read to my daughter, I'd end up skipping the fungus facts  often just because they disrupt the flow of the story.

Bedtime Breakdown

My daughter was not the target audience for Fungus is Among Us.  She's only two, and became actually afraid as the MC in the story presented fear so clearly.    If you have a sensitive two year old, maybe wait a year or two on this one.  My husband skipped the fungus facts after the first one choosing, as I've said, to not disrupt the flow of the story.

    That being said, even though she deemed it 'The Scary Book' my daughter still said she liked the book but didn't want to read it anymore.  Despite being afraid of it, she enjoyed the pictures of the cute little mushrooms.   

I liked the true facts about nature, and enjoyed learning something new. I was later able to point out some of these fungi in real life as a fun activity we could do together - just to be sure that she didn't become afraid of real fungus.     

Recommendations

If you have an older child who enjoys the outdoors or likes bringing up fun trivia facts to friends and family, this would be a fun gift.  Also for teachers or librarians looking for fun PG scary books that they can read as a Halloween treat, consider "Fungus is Among Us" for a educational, but thrilling, story.  

        If you like this book please show Joy Keller, and her talented illustrator Erica Solcedo some love by checking this book out from your local library or purchase it your favorite bookstore.

    Or help my page out by purchasing through my Amazon Associates Link here "Fungus is Among Us!" 

          

If you enjoyed this review please subscribe to leave a comment here, or leave a comment on Twitter!  I'm @PB&JellyPhish and I'd love to hear from you.  

    I'm Porsche B. Yeary and 

I'll see you on the next page!

            

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Picture Book Breakdown: Little Skink's Tail by Janet Halfmann

Published: 2007 by Arbordale
Ages: 3-7
Pages: 32

    Spring is near, so I'm kicking this season off with books about nature.  In my search for agents, publishers, and comp books, I've run across a few really good books that explain nature in really fun ways for kids.  

First up, Little Blue Skink, tells the fictional story of an adorable little lizard with a big imagination.  The character may be a product of Janet Halfmann's imagination, but the facts are all true.  It's an excellent example of how to take true facts about nature and make them fun and easy for small children to enjoy.  

    

Synopsis:

 

While Little Skink hunts yummy ants for her breakfast, she is suddenly attacked by a crow!  But she has a trick to escape - she snaps off her tail and it keeps on waggling!  Little Skink is happy to be alive but she misses her bright blue tail.  Readers will enjoy pretending with her, trying on tail after tail.  The first is too puffy-fluffy and another too stinky!  Then one day Little Skink gets a big surprise . . . And she doesn’t have to dream of tails anymore. 

P1: Title page

P2: Copyright

P3 Little Skink basked on a big yellow rock in the rays of the morning sun.  Her chilly body soon turned snugly warm.  She twitched her bright blue tail.  The little lizard was ready to start her day.

P4: Leaping to the forest floor, she poked her pointy nose into a crack in a rotting log and looked for breakfast.  Sniff, sniff! She smelled ants.  She loved ants.  

P5: Gobble, gobble, gobble. She swollowed down one ant after another.  

P6: Her tummy was almost full when she felt a peck on her tail.  It was a large, hungry crow! 

P7: Little Skink was trapped.  There was no way to run.  But she had to a trick . . . 

P8 - P9

 Quicker than the crow could blink, Little Skink snapped off her bright blue tail!

Wiggle, waggle, waggle,  went the tail, wriggling wildly through the fallen leaves.  

The crow forgot all about Little Skink.  It wanted that wiggling, waggling tail!

As the crow bounced this way and that, Little Skink slinked under a log.  She was safe.  Her wiggling, waggling tailed saved her. 

  This is an excellent way to show predation without being too scary.  As a parent, I appreciate that the author doesn't shy away from predation yet still manages to show it without it being too scary.  It's a fact of life that some animals eat other animals, this is the reason so many cool creatures have evolved such unique and diverse ways of escaping danger. 

P10 - P11

The next morning, as Little Skink basked on her rock, she felt a little sad.  She missed her bright blue tail, even though she was happy to be alive.

P12

As she lay basking and thinking, a cottontail rabbit hopped in front of her rock.

Hhhhmm, I wonder how I’d look with a tail like that?  Little Skink thought.  

P13

She pictured her new look.  Very cute,” she thought to herself, “but too puffy-fluffy.”

P14 - P15

Next, she tried a squirrel’s tail: “It’s fun to flick and fluff,” she said, “but much too bushy.” 

Day after day, Little Skink imagined herself wearing the tail of every animal she met.

P16 - P17

A deer’s tail: “Look! I can wave it like a little flag,” she said.  “But it’s so short and stubby.” 

P18 - P19

A skunk’s tail: “Peeeeuuw!” Said Little Skin.  “”Stinky, stinky, stinky!” 

P20 - P21

A porcupine’s tail:  “Too sticky-prickly,” she said.  

P22 - P23

An owl’s tail: “A lizard with feathers?” She exclaimed.  “I don’t think so!” 

P24 - P25

A turtle’s tail: “Too pointy,” said Little Skink.  

This was a very imaginative second act to the the story, one that delighted my daughter and amused me.  The writing was easy to make entertaining.  The language was simple but not so dumbed down as to make it tedious.  And the use of the different tails gave us a chance to talk about different animals we'd seen, and what they looked like.   

P26 

While all were fine tails, not one was quiet right for her.  

P27

Then one day as she scampered onto her sunny rock, her shadow caught her eye. Her shadow had a tail!

P28-P29

She whipped around. Sure enough, her tail had grown back.  “A skink needs a skink’s tail,” she said, and her tail-dreaming days were over.  

End  

    And it's all tied together with a sweet message about body positivity.  What a lovely story, and great illustrations along with it.  At the end of the book are little games for older kids that explain how different animals in the story use their various tails.  

BEDTIME BREAKDOWN

    My little girl was very upset that I'd returned this book to the library.  She's in the wiggling, squiggly, squirming  phase of bedtime now, but this is one of the books that got her to calm down and listen.  

    She gasped at the crow, and delighted at the wiggly tail.  She laughed at the skink wearing some of the other tails - possibly because her father is such a goofball while reading this one.  

    And that's what I really wanted to point out.  This book was easy to read as a parent.  Some of the other pictures books that my daughter likes are hard to get through as a parent reading a-loud.  Either because the plot is chunky, or facts are being bent to make the story more child friendly. Or their are words or concepts too hard to explain.  

    Not here!  This one was a breeze, even though it didn't rhyme.  It was imaginative and educational at the same time.  It was exciting without being too scary and it was fun to read out-loud.  A story like this can be read in a goofy manner, or as a calming bedtime story read slow and soft.  

    If you like this book as much as I did, consider passing on the love to the author Janet Halfmann.     

Also, the illustrator Laurie Klein   who's done a great job on this and other picture books.  

    You can help my page out by purchasing through my Amazon Associates Link here  "Little Skink's Tail" 

Thanks for stopping by, I'm P. B. Yeary.  I'll see you on the next page.  

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