FUNGI GROW

Molds and mushrooms flourish in this introduction to the fungal life cycle.

With a bright palette and vigorous brushwork, illustrator Sudyka portrays exuberant arrays of mushrooms blasting out swirls of spores with a “PUFF!” “PLOP!” “POOF!” or, for the aptly named dog stinkhorn, “PEE-EW!” Then, as author Gianferrari describes how hyphae release enzymes that break down rock and wood into nutrients and minerals—“making / by unmaking”—cross-sectional views reveal underground habitats crowded with roots, rocks, burrowing insects and other wildlife, and fungal threads winding through to create an interactive “wood-wide web.” A second explosion of fruiting bodies, each with an inconspicuous identifying label, leads to a further burst of fungal facts, featuring zombie ants and species that feed on plastic or even (as at Chernobyl) gamma radiation. The author and illustrator stick to land-based species, so marine fungi go unmentioned. Likewise, they draw attention to neither lichens nor (aside from a nod to penicillium) molds, and spores remain just dustlike clouds without any closer looks. Still, readers will come away dazzled by the kingdom’s huge variety of forms and colors, a bit more informed about fungi’s potential uses for industry and waste disposal, and properly warned off from eating any found mushrooms without an expert’s OK. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A bit thin on coverage but exuberant and engaging.