Mushroom Daydream Coloring Book
Gerta O. Egy
Microcosm Publishing
Whether we find it in art, music, or walking in the woods, everybody needs a little respite from their days, perhaps especially during election season.
Gerta Oparaku Egy’s Mushroom Daydream Coloring Book is 128 single-sided tear-out pages of realistically-rendered mushrooms in plush settings that appeal to hippies, witches, mycologists, foragers, and kids, as well as people who’ve never seen a mushroom in its native setting before. Perfectly-weighted borders beautifully define both open spaces and neat little shapes to fill in with crayons or markers or paint or pencils — whatever your fungus-loving heart desires.
The author is a fixture at Microcosm, my favorite indie press, with 21 titles and a giant, beautiful catalog in her repertoire. An Albanian artist schooled in costume and set design, Egy’s fine arts background comes through, delightfully.
Among the pages, I find chanterelles, chicken of the woods, boletes, and ghost pipes, as well as “that distinctive red-and-white fly agaric, the Waldo of the mushroom world,” and I don’t even need a basket to harvest them.
