Reviewed by Jennifer Senick for Readers' Favorite

What can you find during a magical walk in the forest? Some colorful fungi, of course. Counting with Colorful Mushrooms: Learning to Count with Colors by Mara Mae starts with just one red mushroom. Next come two blue, then three yellow, and so on until the count reaches ten. There are orange ones growing on a fallen log and little green mushrooms tucked near a stone wall. Some grow beside a creek, while others appear in different spots of the wooded area. Pink, white, and brown are included too, with something a little different waiting at the end. The words rhyme throughout, with references to birds, moonlight, and other parts of the woods. After reaching the final number, young readers get another chance to look back at what they’ve counted. What surprise is waiting at number ten? And which page will be your favorite?

Counting with Colorful Mushrooms by Mara Mae is a cute story that immediately made me think of my stepdaughter, who loves mushrooms. I appreciated how two learning concepts, numbers and colors, are brought together in a nature theme. The rhyming text is simple and playful, supporting early literacy development and making counting practice fun. As an educator, I could see this working especially well in a preschool or pre-K classroom during lessons about the natural world, forests, or fungi. Teachers might ask children if they’ve been in the woods, whether they like mushrooms, or for examples of what else grows outside. A nature walk would easily extend the lesson. The bright illustrations make the different colors and quantities easy to notice. Young children who like concept books and colorful pictures should enjoy this. It belongs in homes, classrooms, and libraries because it turns several basic skills into one cheerful educational experience.