From Tiny To Mighty, Above And Below, Watch Them Go

Without fail near Mother's Day every year, a deliberate, planned treasure hunt began.  Unlike many treasure hunts, there was no map with a large "X" marking a spot.  To be sure, there were areas to check, but much depended on the weather and the type of spring we were having.  As a child and then later as a teen, I am not sure which was more fun, watching my father seek and find the elusive morel mushroom or finding them myself.

How my dad acquired his skills as a morel mushroom hunter or, for that matter, skills at finding other edible mushrooms is a mystery, but our meals were better for his knowledge.  For him and every reader with a desire to learn about the fantastic abilities of living species to be found around us in the natural world, Fungi Grow (Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, October 17, 2023) written with infinite care by Maria Gianferrari with exquisite artwork by Diana Sudyka is a title as precious and delicious as the morel mushroom.  A poetic, lively and informative narrative accompanied by detailed, colorful images highlights a realm deserving our attention.

Fungi grow.

Start with a spore---

     a sort of seed.

Readers journey from unusual places on fungi by unusual modes of transportation.  Self-generated breezes, rain, unsuspecting animals, slim, and malodorous smells help spores to move.  Once these spores have landed, they begin to fashion roots.

These rootlike formations, named hyphae, free enzymes which act as agents of change, breaking down and taking back.  The hyphae make threads, like cotton, which spread underground.  These mycelium are responsible for what we see above ground.

Some mushrooms rely on trees for their life.  Trees make what they cannot. They in turn provide trees with minerals.  They, mycorrhizal fungi, connect trees to one another so they can send messages which can warn other trees of danger.

Some edible fungi are found above and below ground.  Other mushrooms begin small, grow up and then spread out like dancers' dresses.  Fungi can be found on dead wood, looking like shelves, tiny umbrellas, or colorful, striped tutus.  

Fungi come in shapes and sizes and colors that defy imagination.  Large or small they make their presence known.  They can punch through cement or asphalt or thrive where everything else has died.  They can be deadly or can help.  They are an essential, magnificent piece of the puzzle we call life.

Much like the path a spore takes, Maria Gianferrari, through her extensive research and gifted writing, takes readers roaming with purpose through the world of fungi.  Repetition of the title phrase ties portions of the narrative together like mycorrhizal fungi.  Alliteration and rhyming invite us deeper into the text.  Explanatory paragraphs further inform us beneath lyrical statements.  Here are two connecting passages.

Spores catapult, sail, wander with wind.

PUFF!

Cottony rot fungus spurts

plumes of spores.  This action,

called "puffing," creates wind

for spores to sail on.

When you open the matching dust jacket and book case, one of the first things you notice is the artwork by Diana Sudyka extends to the ends of the left and right jacket flaps.  The vibrant color palette surrounds you, giving energy to the living creatures and fungi featured.  We are taken into that moment depicted on the jacket and case.  We cannot wait to enter the pages within the body of the book after this gorgeous introduction.  The title text, fungi and creatures are varnished.

The opening and closing endpapers feature a rustic red covered in irregularly-shaped white elements.  These could be spores or perhaps we are very close to the mushrooms shown on the jacket and case with those same distinguishing marks.  The array of fungi on the title page extends across the gutter to the verso page.  The title text is above and the author and illustrator names are in the green expanse below.  In a frame with fungi growing from the edges, we find the dedication on the opposite page.

These images by this artist,

rendered in gouache watercolor and finished digitally,

are highly animated.  Spores fan out simulating their movement.  Tiny dotted lines show their paths.  Words like puff, plop, poof, and pee-ew are shown in realistic and exaggerated portrayals.  Fungi are all labeled in delicate handwriting.  When the narrative transitions, Diana Sudyka frames the initial illustration with an ornate oval border.

The pictures range in size from double-page illustrations to single-page visuals.  As the narrative grows more powerful, so do the images.  We are given huge panoramic scenes and breath-taking close-ups.  The attention to detail is superb.

One of my many favorite illustrations is a double-page picture.  It is for the words:

Mushrooms SPROUT.

Parasols POP OUT.

Mushrooms fan,

arc,

spread their skirts.

A stump in ringed colors of gray and black supports rusty-gilled polypore, violet-toothed polypore and turkey tail shown in their rich hues.  Leaves and grass go along the bottom to the left.  There red and orange pinwheels open.  A frog takes cover under them.  Above them, on a large branch, are intricate pinwheel mushrooms that look like lace.

Whether you are hiker of forests or have never set foot in one, you will be enchanted by Fungi Grow written by Maria Gianferrari with illustrations by Diana Sudyka.  Among radiant images and magical words brimming with information, you will stroll again and again, amazed by fungi and their traits. At the close of the book are several pages of back matter, including a warning about never eating mushrooms found outside unless they are approved by a professional, a glossary, how fungi heal and help, fun fungi facts, fungi life cycle, sources, further reading for kids, additional resources, and blogs and websites. I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Maria Gianferrari and Diana Sudyka and their other work, please access their respective websites by following the link attached to their names.  Maria Gianferrari has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Diana Sudyka has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website, you can view the open jacket and interior images. 

Maria Gianferrari's yard is full of fungi.  From branching corals and pointy stinkhorns to smoky puffballs and colorful jack-o'-lanterns, everything's coming up mushrooms!  Someday she hopes to find some morels---she'll even share them with a squirrel.  Maria's favorite edible mushroom is the hearty portobello.  She lives in Massachusetts.

Diana Sudyka grew up hearing stories of her grandfather, an ardent forager, bringing home chicken of the woods and maitake mushrooms for meals.  Her favorite edible mushroom is the delicious morel that popped up in her yard last spring.  Diana lives with her family in Evanston, Illinois.

Noticing Nature

We know each season has unique characteristics.  Some of those seasons are more favorable than others to us for those very reasons.  One thing about summer, though, is the abundance of everything.  Colors are more vibrant, contrasting with other hues.  There are more animals of every shape and size, birds, insects, mammals, large and small, amphibians, and reptiles.  There are more flowers and blossoms on those flowers.  There are all kinds of seeds being formed and dropped.  And the trees are resplendent in all their leafy glory.

We cannot get so caught up in the shimmering grandeur of the varied green treetops against a clear, startling blue sky that we miss the existence of smaller, more fragile members of the natural community.  Dear Treefrog (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, May 25, 2021) written by Joyce Sidman with illustrations by Diana Sudyka explores the transformation in a girl's thinking as her attention focuses on a discovered friend.  Nature offers us lessons when we realign perspectives and time.

SUMMER

I See You

suddenly

among the tangled green

a tiny dollop of

frog

where before

there was only leaf . . .

Recently moved into a new home and neighborhood, the girl starts to watch the treefrog.  She mirrors its actions.  It stays in silence.  She does, too.  It climbs and moves with care.

The girl realizes in watching the treefrog, she is becoming more a part of the natural world instead of only an observer.  The treefrog offers security and steadfastness when the girl is feeling adrift.  She wonders about the treefrog's past and breathes a sigh of relief when it hides from rambunctious newcomers.

She worries about its safety before and after a storm.  She finds solace in other insect creatures when the treefrog cannot be found.  Autumn brings about changes for the treefrog and the child, colder weather and school.  There is one more surprise, a new friend for the girl.

The newly formed duo are kindred spirits.  They walk through the world in much the same manner.  They are more than willing to wait and watch through the seasonal shifts.  Oh, there you are . . . dearest treefrog.

In a series of poetic letters, Joyce Sidman reveals, through a first-person narrative, the contemplations and conclusions of our young protagonist.  We are privy to her thoughts about her circumstances and those of the treefrog.  Opposite each poem are one, two, three, or four sentences providing information about treefrogs in reference to something mentioned in the phrases.  Here are two passages.

Dear Treefrog

here

you are!

Against the window glass

we see more of you

     than ever

Your pale belly

and gummy toes

Your half-moon throat

that flutters

silently

Your breath

     so close

     to ours

Treefrogs often climb windows, and walls with their sticky

toe pads, looking for insects.  They hide in unexpected

places: on a hose, on top of a faucet, under a flowerpot.

You never know when you might run into a treefrog.

The images in this book, 

rendered in gouache watercolor on paper,

are resplendent when first seen on the open and matching dust jacket and book case.  The full-leafed, green shades of flora and striking bursts of yellow, orange, and pink supply a comforting environment for a lonely little girl and a treefrog friend.  The raindrops shown on both the front and the back help readers to understand the lushness of the scene spread, left to right, flap edge to flap edge.  A treefrog is nestled on a leaf on the front and the back.  A bee is ready to land on a pink flower on the back.

Illustrator Diana Sudyka in green on a white canvas has created a pleasing pattern on the opening and closing endpapers.  There are raindrops falling among flowers, leaves, ferns, stumps, branches, moss, treefrog eggs, dragonflies, tadpoles, beetles, butterflies, and mushrooms.  The raindrops are larger as we turn to the title page, now their blue adds to the brilliance of the green atmosphere around the leaf where the treefrog rests.

Another page turn brings us to the dedication and publication information pages.  Here Diana Sudyka begins her visual interpretation of the story.  The girl, holding her stuffie cat stands among the green flora and flowers.  Behind her a moving truck and mover bring things to her home on the right.  Snug on a leaf on the right is the treefrog.

All the illustrations, double-page pictures, offer us gorgeous visuals in varying perspectives of the girl and the treefrog.  Many times we move close to the treefrog in stunning scenes.   Other times we transition from one moment to another flawlessly.  Tiny labels appear in some of the pictures, denoting flowers, insects, birds, and frog information.  The wide eyes on the girl and her new human friend offer insights into their moods.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is when the girl is shown as the same size as the treefrog.  There are fewer colors in this pictures, greens, blues, black, and white.  The girl and the treefrog are black, as if in silhouette.  She is holding a spyglass as the treefrog's first mate on the sailboat (leaf).  It is an eloquent portrait.

You are transported to a special perspective in Dear Treefrog written by Joyce Sidman with illustrations by Diana Sudyka.  It informs us about the connections between humans and other creatures and treefrogs.  This book reminds us of the importance of our natural world.  A final single page, More About Treefrogs and How to Welcome Them, answers four important questions.  This title belongs on your personal and professional bookshelves.

To learn more about Joyce Sidman and Diana Sudyka and their other work, please follow the link attached to their names to access their respective websites.  Joyce Sidman has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.  Diana Sudyka has accounts on Instagram and Twitter.  At The TeachingBooks Blog, Joyce Sidman talks about this book.

With all the blossoms blooming and warmer weather, day and night, butterflies and moths are frequent visitors to our backyards, neighborhoods, and surrounding meadows and woodlands.  Of the two, moths seem to be more patient with human observation.  In Moth & Butterfly: Ta-Da! (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, June 8, 2021) written by Dev Petty with illustrations by Ana Aranda, readers get an up-close-and-personal view of the two.  Differences and similarities are explored with wit and truth.  We witness seemingly miraculous changes.  Are you ready?

In a corner of the lush, green garden,

two caterpillars share a leaf.

They share other things, too.  They both have multiple legs and loads of spots.  Their appetites for leaves are voracious.  They are about to experience a natural phenomenon, metamorphosis.

Both are being wrapped in a new material.  This enclosure is hiding a complete change.  Weeks pass and then . . .

POP!

The caterpillars are now a moth and a butterfly.  They still enjoy familiar activities, but one does them more often in daylight and the other does them more often at night.  Physical differences have developed.  They both have wings, less legs, and antennae, but they move specific to their needs.

The duo is destined to be companions celebrating each other.  One day, they notice another caterpillar twosome.  They greet them as only those in-the-know can do.

With carefully chose words, Dev Petty fashions a friendship story filled with facts.  Her spare text and upbeat dialogue will have readers turning the pages as fast as the caterpillars gobble up leaves.  The beginning of the story is tied to the conclusion with two key words, cementing the shared affection between moth and butterfly.  Here is a passage.

And look!  Both are champions

at chewing leaves into funny shapes.

AMAZING!

TA-DA!

OOPS!

Looking at the open dust jacket, readers know they are in for a treat.  The color choices and the layout and design focus on the differences and the similarities.  Moth stands out in the night, his hues coordinating against the evening tones and the moon.  Butterfly glows in the sunny daylight, brilliantly colored.  Even though they prefer opposite parts of a twenty-four-hour period, they are still high fiving each other and cheering.  

To the left, on the back, the night sky is on the top and the sunny day is on the bottom.  Flying beneath the moon and standing on a fern, Moth chats with Butterfly resting in the opposite corner.  Both insects and celestial bodies are smiling.

On the open book case, left to right, a loop of yellow begins in the upper, left-hand corner enlarging as it moves to the lower right side.  Beneath it, a larger canvas of dusky blue begins on the left and decreases in size as it moves to the right.  On the left side, Moth and Butterfly hover over a large pink flower sipping nectar.  On the right side, the duo is munching on a shared leaf as caterpillars.  Leaves, ferns, and flowers add to the joy of these shared moments.

On the opening endpapers, in a luminous blue and green, butterfly as a caterpillar is featured on the left.  Another flying insect passes Butterfly among numerous leaves.  On the right side, colors reversed (blue on green), Moth happily frolics among an equal number of leaves. A ladybug stops to chat.  On the closing endpapers a bright yellow highlights Butterfly in blue.  The same flying insect zooms from right to left across the gutter.  On the left, Moth in yellow enjoys the night, mingling among leaves and flowers, and an old shoe.

The artwork of Ana Aranda rendered

in watercolor, inks, gouache, and lime on watercolor paper

is in a word---joy.  Beginning on the title page, we are introduced to Moth and Butterfly as their silhouette forms fly above a planter (yellow-painted bathtub) filled with flowers and leaves.  With a page turn, we are taken outside to an expansive garden setting, the bathtub sitting among other flowers, plants, and a fountain in front of a cheerfully painted home.  As caterpillars, Moth and Butterfly, in yellow, are on large leaves.

Each double-page picture, single-page image with large white frames, and single-page pictures, edge to edge, are bursting with color and animation.  Whether we are shown a more panoramic view or a close-up, we are aware of the informative details Ana Aranda includes.  We notice the antennae.  We notice the time of day and passing of weeks. We notice the complete happiness of Moth and Butterfly within their garden home.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is a double-page picture.  The duo has completed metamorphosis.  They are flying above the garden.  They are enthusiastically remarking on their wing colors.  They and their observations are framed by the grass and flowers below them.  Several bees watch the twosome.  

This book, Moth & Butterfly: Ta-Da! written by Dev Petty with illustrations by Ana Aranda, is filled with fun and facts.  This book is about friendship, new beginnings, things which are the same and those that are not.  It asks us to notice the little things.  It asks us to look for things in common while respecting distinctness.  And it invites us to look for more information. At the close of the book a last page, Is it a moth or a butterfly?, supplies readers with more facts. For its upbeat presentation and as a springboard for further discussions, you'll want a copy in both your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Dev Petty and Ana Aranda and their other work, please access their websites by following the link attached to their names.  Dev Petty has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Ana Aranda has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. At the publisher's website you can view the title page.  This book is showcased by John Schumacher, author, lecturer, and teacher librarian, on his site, Watch. Connect. Read.  You will enjoy his chat with Dev Petty.  This book and illustrator Ana Aranda are featured at Let's Talk Picture Books by Mel Schuit.  You'll love Dev Petty's post at the Nerdy Book Club about change and this title.  Here is a link to a virtual chat about this book hosted by Parnassus Books.  

Discovering Winged Wonders

There are those who look to their calendars to mark the changing seasons.  There are others, careful observers of the natural world, who know Mother Nature shifts from summer to autumn to winter, and then to spring in her own time.  Last week there were from five to seven of them in my backyard in the morning and evening, adults, and speckled youngsters.  Now, it is as if they've vanished.  Have the robins left to migrate south?

Hummingbirds, two or three, gather, and take turns, at my feeder sipping nectar all day.  Goldfinches and chick-a-dees chatter in the surrounding woods as raptors glide overhead.   Birds are active throughout the day, but those visible change from month to month.  How to Find a Bird (Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, August 4, 2020) written by Jennifer Ward with illustrations by Diana Sudyka guides readers in spotting a wide range of birds in a variety of settings and habitats. 

There are a lot of ways to find a bird.

That's the wonderful thing about birds.

We will want to become a part of our surroundings, moving quietly and slowly.  We usually think of watching for birds above us because of their ability to fly, but birds find food on and under the ground.  Look there, too.  Birds near the water are often lower than if they are in flight.

Remember the hint about moving slowly?  Many birds make their nests on the ground.  We should be careful.  Sometimes we have to be detectives.  Birds blend in bark, foliage, and branches.  They might be closer than we think.

We can still look to the sky to discover new birds.  Sometimes they fly solo.  Other times they gather in a large group to create a breathtaking display of synchronization.  

They are so fast at times; we wonder if we really saw them.  They may see us before we see them, announcing their presence with a call.  If we feed birds, they will honor us with their constant company.  In closing the narrative, we are reminded of another sense for locating birds.  We will be eager to try it the next time we step out-of-doors.

The easy conversational sentences penned by Jennifer Ward are an open invitation to readers to explore the world of birds.  Each hint is like a clue to unraveling a marvelous mystery.  When we are asked to do something, a readily understood explanation follows.  References are made for us to be as if we are birds in order to find them. Small poetic uses of language supply an easy cadence.  Here is a passage.

Quiet is good too.

So quiet you can hear

your heartbeat.

Shhhhhhh

When you open the matching dust jacket and book case you are greeted with the lovely display of the tree, branches extending from flap edge to flap edge.  The white canvas provides an ideal background for portraying the birds as we would see them naturally.  The vibrant, full-color picture welcomes readers to open the book.

To the left, on the back, of the jacket and case the two children who journey through the book with us, are looking at the main tree, one with binoculars.  They are partially hidden by a large shrub which contains the ISBN.  Above them a Baltimore oriole is peering from its hanging nest at the children.

A fabulous pattern of bird homes, some made by humans, are carefully scattered on a white background.  Pinecones, nuts, leaves, and tiny, berry-covered branches are part of the design.  The use of muted primary colors is highly appealing.  On the title page a large owl is nestled against a tree trunk, seated on a branch.  The tree's branches stretch off the right and top and move across the gutter to the verso and dedication page, also stretching off the top.

These illustrations by Diana Sudyka rendered 

in watercolor, gouache on paper, and finished digitally

are rich in their settings, color choices, and portraits of the birds.  Each bird is labeled in tiny print looking as if hand lettered. Several perspectives are present in many of the images.  Nearly all the illustrations span two pages before shifting to several circular representations and two full-page pictures.  You will find yourself pausing at every page turn to study the details, even as you gasp in admiration at the beautiful two-page panoramas.

One of my many, many favorite illustrations is for the text above noted.  It's night.  In the background is a charcoal gray sky replete with stars.  In silhouette just left of the gutter is a large tree with leafy branches spreading left and right across the gutter.  In front of the tree on the left is a grassy mound with a tree stump.  The children are quietly seated there.  In front of the grassy area is darkened water.  On the right, much closer to readers is a large sleeping swan.  Her neck is curved downward, her feathered wings gracefully moving upward and to the left across the gutter.  Nestled in her feathers are three babies, their downy fluff slightly darker than her white wings.

This book, How to Find a Bird written by Jennifer Ward with illustrations by Diana Sudyka, is outstanding in every respect with the text and visuals working to create a stunning whole.  At the close of the book under the heading of 

We can all be bird watchers!

are Tools and Tips, Create a Life List, and Become a Citizen Scientist with lots of information.  Jennifer Ward asks readers to visit her website 

for a list of books about birds and bird watching.

I highly recommend this title for your personal and professional collections.

To learn more about Jennifer Ward and Diana Sudyka and their other work, please visit their websites by following the links attached to their names.  Jennifer Ward has accounts on Facebook, and Twitter.  Diana Sudyka has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.  Enjoy the video.