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Lamellia: The Kingdom of Mushrooms by Gloria D Gonsalves (view source)
Revision as of 08:51, 30 September 2016
, 08:51, 30 September 2016no edit summary
Lamellia is a kingdom of mushrooms lying deep within a forest. It is ruled by Polipoli, its big brown king. One day, a group from his mushroom army finds a human baby abandoned in the forest. The baby is hungry and crying. What will the mushrooms do? Will they reject the baby as a member of a hostile species? Or will they take care of it and accept it as one of their own? They choose the latter option, but how will a kingdom of mushrooms take care of a human baby? By working together, of course!
This story is really about diversity and accepting - no, welcoming! - the other. Lamellia is a forest kingdom - the land of tall trees as Gonsalves calls it. The mushrooms who populate it look very different from one another. Its kindking, Polipoli, is huge and brown and, some might say, monstrous-looking. The Indigos are blue and they form a strong wall that guards Lamellia. The Honeys are orange and clump together so that they can protect someone or something vulnerable. The Lanterns glow green and smell nice but can poison an attacker. The Amanitas are red with white spots and they fascinate anyone who looks at them.
Together, these mushrooms sustain and protect Lamellia. Their differences are seen as positives, not negatives, and when they find a human baby alone and in need, they co-operate together to care for and protect the child even though this mushroom kingdom hasn't had the best experiences with humans. Wouldn't it be nice if the human world always acted like this? I can hear this question asked by many parents as they read ''Lamellia: The Kingdom of Mushrooms'' to their children.