Picture Book Review: Fritz: A Mushroom Story

Thanks to the kind folks at Penguin Random House Canada, I have the pleasure of talking about Kelsey Garrity-Riley’s newest and recently-released picture book Fritz: A Mushroom Story. Happy reading!

You might recognize author and illustrator Kelsey Garrity-Riley from their debut picture book Frankie’s Favorite Foods or You Are A Beautiful Beginning (written by Nina Laden). In Fritz: A Mushroom Story, Garrity-Riley brings readers into a deeply delightful and endearing world of mushroom friends and family.

We first meet Fritz, an adorable hat-loving, sweater-wearing chanterelle mushroom, who loves to eat rose hip ice cream and cream of chestnut soup. While Fritz does enjoy spending time with and playing with one or a few friends, he oftentimes appreciates time spent alone. We are then introduced to ”Fritz’s very favourite friend”, a bright, speckled little fly agaric mushroom named Pip. Now, Pip is fond of things that are quite different from Fritz: for example, not only does Pip enjoy blackberry-bramble ice cream and spicy nettle soup, but he also adores playing loud instruments, crowds, putting on plays, and being the centre of attention!

On the surface of it, Fritz and Pip seem quite disparate in their interests, and readers might wonder how their close friendship works with so many differences! Well, one evening, Fritz decides that he is going to try to have “a very Pip-like day” as it seems that “Pip always has so much fun with everyone”. The very next day, Fritz and Pip meet up bright and early for a big day of adventure- and for Fritz to test what it feels like to be more like Pip. The two friends begin with a “game of berryball”, followed by swimming, playing in the meadow, making flower chains, and…Fritz starts to wonder why having all this fun is starting to feel so very tiring. When a game of hide-and-seek is suggested, Fritz makes a decision that he shares with Pip- and readers will get to see just how complementary and gracious the two friends are with each other.

Readers looking for the coziest of cozy, sweetest of sweet picture books- an all-around elegant story with a great dose of kindheartedness, Fritz: A Mushroom Story is the perfect pick. Elevated in storytelling and in artwork, Kelsey Garrity-Riley’s Fritz: A Mushroom Story is an enchanting, must-read. Picture book enthusiasts and young readers who enjoy stories from authors and illustrators such as Phoebe Wahl, Deborah Marcero or Lauren Soloy might especially savour this sublime read. Maybe further adventures featuring Fritz and his forest of mushroom friends are coming? One can hope!

I received a copy of this titles courtesy of Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and comments are my own. Title has been released and is currently available.