Mushroom Lullaby by Kenneth Kraegel

"You head up your soft mushroom stair and read a book in your big mushroom chair."

For the first few pages of this lullaby, we meet various mushrooms in different situations. On the ground, on a tree branch, in a desert, under a waterfall. Then turn the page and we find a mushroom house with a front door and window. This is sure to enchant your young reading companion. The path to the house even has a small lantern hanging on a twig rather like the light from Narnia. There is an outdoor table with a checkers board game and inside the house you will see shelves crammed with books and other toy treasures. There is even a model of the mushroom house itself. 

A nearly square trim size and ink-and-watercolor compositions with an abundance of curves and rounded shapes create a setting filled with quiet joy and a sense of security. Stippling and other surface patterns provide texture and gradations of light. As the day winds down, the warm palette becomes even more intense, with glowing embers in the fireplace and deep orange-red walls and décor. Kirkus Star review

The font is large and so easy to read throughout that it works so well for bedtime. There are relatively few words on each page, with merely a phrase or two on the spread. The illustrations are quite detailed and lovely, really inviting the reader to explore this magical world visually on each page and leading into the slower pace that works so well for bedtime books. The amount of words and simplicity of the story along with the rhymes will work well for toddlers on up. YA Books Central

Publisher blurb: In gentle rhyme, this spare and whimsical picture book from the one-of-a-kind imagination of Kenneth Kraegel introduces little readers to all sorts of wonderful mushrooms: ones that grow up high and ones that never stay dry, ones that grow in a park and ones that glow in the dark, and even one made just for them! Who can resist climbing up the soft mushroom stair, curling up in a plush mushroom chair, and preparing to dream sweet mushroom dreams? The lulling narration and warm illustrations of this charmingly quirky book will have drowsy young ones settling into their own comfy beds, ready to drift off to sleep.

I first saw this book in an independent bookstore (sadly this store has now closed). I told the teacher-librarian of the library where I volunteer each week and she generously purchased this for her library. I did mention the author Kenneth Kraegel in a previous post. Here is his webpage.