Review - Everything Under a Mushroom

Everything Under a Mushroom
by Ruth Krauss
illustrated by Margot Tomes
Date: 1973
Publisher: Four Winds Press
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 36
Format: e-book
Source: Open Library

(see it on Goodreads)

I don't know what people were doing in the 1970s... but I suspect it was shrooms.

This picture book is so hilariously random. At first, it seems like it's just a simple rhyme running along the top of the page. This is accompanied by pictures of things going on under the big mushroom. But then... then things start to get wonderfully weird. The book makes zero sense... and I kind of love it. (The weird, recurring cow-child will probably haunt my dreams for weeks to come...)

It's fun to read some of these older, more obscure books. I'd never even heard of this one. I don't know why not. It's quirky and fun and is complete nonsense. What could be better?

Quotable moment:

Listen!
There was a girl at a party
and she was very beautiful.
Her face was beautiful.
Her dress was beautiful.
Her feet were beautiful.
Everybody said, "How beautiful!"
And she was rich too.
But the other girls at the party didn't care
because they all had
warm bathrobes.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 5/5

Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 3.57 out of 5