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The Mushroom Center Disaster
When disaster strikes in Beetle's new community, he masterminds a plan to turn bad fortune into progress.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
94 people want to read
About the author
N.M. Bodecker
45 books12 followersN.M. Bodecker was an illustrator as well as a writer of children's books and nonsense poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 4, 2021
Bodecker ia a brilliant and humorous storyteller and Blegvad’s illustrations are exquisite. The fact that they were life long friends must have also added to just how well this book worked.
When I was small my favourite thing to draw was mushroom houses with insect inhabitants so this would have been right up my street. These illustrations are so lovely, they are black and white and work well like that but they do give me an enormous urge to get a paint box and colour them in. Reading this book on my tablet means that wouldn’t work too well. There are too many beautiful scenes to mention, the little houses are so attractive and I loved the scene where the main character is having a candle lit supper with a firefly.
When disaster strikes this mushroom village, the insect inhabitants come up with some wonderfully funny and inventive ways of sorting the problem out. I loved the use for the bottle!
This would make such a great bedtime story, some really lovely images to drift off with! I really hope I come across a paper copy of this one day!
Read on open library
When I was small my favourite thing to draw was mushroom houses with insect inhabitants so this would have been right up my street. These illustrations are so lovely, they are black and white and work well like that but they do give me an enormous urge to get a paint box and colour them in. Reading this book on my tablet means that wouldn’t work too well. There are too many beautiful scenes to mention, the little houses are so attractive and I loved the scene where the main character is having a candle lit supper with a firefly.
When disaster strikes this mushroom village, the insect inhabitants come up with some wonderfully funny and inventive ways of sorting the problem out. I loved the use for the bottle!
This would make such a great bedtime story, some really lovely images to drift off with! I really hope I come across a paper copy of this one day!
Read on open library
March 5, 2021
Available on openlibrary.
Some of you, my friends, have this on your to-read list. I opine that you need to prioritize it. It definitely would have been among my favorites when I was a child. Small book, about creatures & their homes that are smaller than dolls, Blegvad's illustrations, vocabulary and grace in writing, plus an adventure and important themes about community & ecology & re/upcycling!
"They stood there on the Common, shivering a little in the night air, too sad to talk and too grown-up to cry."
"At lunchtime each went his own way to think things over in the shade of a convenient tree. And if snoring and thinking are at all the same thing--which perhaps they are--they thought very carefully and conscientiously all afternoon."
Some of you, my friends, have this on your to-read list. I opine that you need to prioritize it. It definitely would have been among my favorites when I was a child. Small book, about creatures & their homes that are smaller than dolls, Blegvad's illustrations, vocabulary and grace in writing, plus an adventure and important themes about community & ecology & re/upcycling!
"They stood there on the Common, shivering a little in the night air, too sad to talk and too grown-up to cry."
"At lunchtime each went his own way to think things over in the shade of a convenient tree. And if snoring and thinking are at all the same thing--which perhaps they are--they thought very carefully and conscientiously all afternoon."
March 4, 2021
Fans of George Selden’s The Cricket in Times Square will be equally entranced by The Mushroom Center Disaster. Not only is the story as charming, but the illustrations by Erik Blegvad are so reminiscent of the illustrations by Garth Williams, who illustrated E.B. White’s Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little, Margery Sharp’s Miss Bianca series, as well as The Cricket in Times Square.
A collection of insects living in mushroom cottages create a wonderful village called Mushroom Center. But disaster really does strike Mushroom Center, but our tiny friends manage to wage a comeback, thanks to the modest Beetle. A lovely story to charm young and old, with a recycling message before its time. I hope against hope that author N.M. Bodecker has other books for me to enjoy. He couldn’t improve on this one.
A collection of insects living in mushroom cottages create a wonderful village called Mushroom Center. But disaster really does strike Mushroom Center, but our tiny friends manage to wage a comeback, thanks to the modest Beetle. A lovely story to charm young and old, with a recycling message before its time. I hope against hope that author N.M. Bodecker has other books for me to enjoy. He couldn’t improve on this one.
May 18, 2021
3.5 stars
Charming both in illustrations and story. This reminds me of The Linnet's Tale but with insects instead of mice.
Charming both in illustrations and story. This reminds me of The Linnet's Tale but with insects instead of mice.
October 1, 2021
This book is simply adorable! Perfect for 1st-3rd graders. Parents/teachers should be aware that the book mentions re-using cigarettes as part of the plot (but not by smoking them!).
August 27, 2019
Charming and wonderfully creative little book about what happens when a tiny insect village becomes besotted with careless litter. The ecological message is subtle and not heavy-handed at all, and it weaves itself nicely into a timeless story.
October 21, 2021
A funny little story.
The reason I read it? Erik Blegvad! Love his work.
The reason I read it? Erik Blegvad! Love his work.
September 27, 2011
An all-time favorite in my house. Good to read aloud to kids ages 4 to 10. You don't have to like insects to enjoy the story, but if you are a fan of small characters, you will be overjoyed to have found this tiny gem of a book. It does not feel didactic, despite the obvious lesson. The b&w illustrations by Erik Blegvad are his finest.
March 13, 2008
I was enviromentally conscious even as a fourth grader. This book is a great story about a community of insects who turn an enviromental disaster into a benefit, using imaginative soluntions and the resourceful of a MacGyver, minus the jack knife.
March 27, 2018
It made you think about the lives of insects and how we humans are careless to nature. It was very creative being in the chair of the insects and how littering destroys everything they have. The 40 pages or so makes you happy and angry but doesn't ruin your day.
September 8, 2022
Charming story of a traveling beetle who settles into a mushroom guest house. When disaster strikes he’s there to help keep all the other residents of Mushroom Center calm and focused on the next task.
March 14, 2018
Very charming story.
September 1, 2018
What a clever and cozy little book. The way the insects turn their garbage mess into a boon is frankly inspiring. Ingenuity really goes a long way! Nice writing and illustrations, too.
April 23, 2022
oh to be a beetle and live in a mushroom in the woods
February 24, 2023
A quaint - if dated - little tale.
June 27, 2012
Who: 2nd/3rd graders
Cute book circa 1974 about small earth animals (beetle, ladybug, snail etc.) who come together in their mushroom community when disaster strikes (a human picnic is upended on their homes and garbage is left scattered). They come to the conclusion of reusing what was left to benefit themselves (e.g. empty bottle turned into a greenhouse). Very quick read.
Cute book circa 1974 about small earth animals (beetle, ladybug, snail etc.) who come together in their mushroom community when disaster strikes (a human picnic is upended on their homes and garbage is left scattered). They come to the conclusion of reusing what was left to benefit themselves (e.g. empty bottle turned into a greenhouse). Very quick read.
September 4, 2016
Heavy-handed look at what a discarded human picnic does to a bug village. A strange mix of personified insects and environmental message.
June 12, 2013
I want to live in a mushroom.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews