All members of the plant kingdom are supported by members of the kingdom of fungi. To learn more about these sometimes very different lifeforms, read “Humongous Fungus,” illustrated by Wenjia Tang and written by Lynne Boddy.
The illustrator and author’s style uses the text in bursts of one or two sentences, with more numerous illustrations. This approach is effective, conveying a lot of information with very few words. Fungi are essential to plant life, and to animal life, but they can also be killers of both. The benefits and problems are well demonstrated.
For example, a two-page spread on plant partners shows trees and fungi roots co-mingled. “Each tree has a lot of fungus partners in the soil. They can be the same or different species. The mycelium can connect between roots on the same tree and on different trees.” If you turn to the next page, you find examples of fungi plant killers: “some kill their roots or leaves, or even the whole plant. They can kill garden flowers, food crops, and even tall trees.”
Winner of the 2023 Award of Excellence for Literature for Young Adults from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries
Excerpted from Brian Thompson’s article in the Summer 2023 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin