IF I WERE A FUNGUS

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.