Thank you NetGalley and publisher for sharing an ARC with #collabookation in exchange for an honest review

This book has been on my to-be-read stack for about three months. I just could not pick it up for some reason, however when I started reading, I COULD NOT put this down! This was the perfect mix of sci-fi and creepy. I felt like I knew Maggie and Nate and it had a pretty interesting story that kept me hooked the whole way through.

Perfect for middle grade kiddos who love sci-fi - I will definitely be adding this to our classroom library!

I'm honestly surprised it took this long for someone to write a book in which the zombie ant fungus makes the jump to people. IT was only a matter of time. Was this plot particularly believable? Not really. There were many points where the logic of it completely defies science. But if you're willing to suspend disbelief it's a solidly entertaining read. It at least follows it's own internal logic pretty closely. Events build upon one another. And the resolution is seeded into the plot at various points without becoming too obvious.

The Mutant Mushroom Takeover by Summer Rachel Short(@summerrachelwrites) is a perfect and chilling read for this Halloween. ⠀
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Maggie is an aspiring young naturalist who lives in Shady Pines with her grandmother and elder brother, Ezra. Maggie’s best friend is Nate, who is a wannabe YouTube Star and alien conspiracy theorist. Maggie’s dream is to win the Vitaccino Junior Naturalist Award. Nate has an idea that can make Maggie the winner. ⠀
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Nate and Maggie go to scary old man Bell’s land and discover bioluminescent fungus. Due to an unfortunate incident, Maggie’s brother, who also joined them inhales spores. Now, his brother is having a cough. Maggie also finds animals sprouting unusual growths and displaying herd behavior. Are all these related? As things get worse in Shady Pines, it is up to Maggie to make their town safe. ⠀
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I loved the dynamic between Maggie and Nate, scientific Maggie, and weird and unrealistic Nate. The town name of Shady Pines is an apt word for all the happenings in the town. The book also goes in-depth about mushrooms, spiders, and other critters. We see the world through the meticulous eyes of Maggie. This book takes weird facts in Science and molds it into an interesting and mysterious novel. ⠀
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Strange but fun story that feels like a cross between a realistic novel and a Scooby Doo mystery. Kids will love the glorious climactic scene where Maggie and Nate spray the infected zombies with fungicide from their water guns.

Bioluminescent fungi is spreading through town and strange things are happening so Maggie and Nate are off to try and get to the bottom of what is happening. A page turning science fiction book perfect for middle grade science fiction lovers.

I really appreciated the Author's Note at the end of the book which explained which of the scientific concepts in the book are actually true, which are based on some truth and which are fiction.

Just in time for Halloween comes a wonderfully creepy story that is perfect for kids who love science!

Maggie is convinced that if she can win the Junior Naturalists’ Merit Award, her father can get his old job back. All she needs is the right photograph. She enlists the help of her friend Nate, an aspiring paranormal reporter to investigate the mysterious “ghost lights” people have reported seeing in Old Man Bell’s Woods. The ghost lights turn out to be bioluminescent mushrooms.

When Old Man Bell dies, she begins noticing ants and spiders around town behaving strangely. Soon her brother and others are sick. She and Nate are in a race against time to stop mutant mushrooms from taking over the town and maybe the world! One small town, two curious kids, monster insects and more, what could possibly go wrong?

STEM science never looked so good. This is a fast-paced, action-packed science fiction sure to get kids’ imaginations to go wild. It is a must read.

The Mutant Mushroom Takeover is such a FUN book. I love that the MC is a tenacious girl with a passion for nature and science! It's a great read to encourage kids in STEM. It's also slightly creepy, but not too much, so it would be perfect for kids who want to read an atmospheric fall book with some spooky vibes without it being over-the-top terrifying for them. This fascinating story kept me turning the pages late into the night, and I enjoyed every minute. I've already pre-ordered a finished copy, and I can't wait for my ten-year-old to read it, too!

Thanks NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing for the free eARC to review.

(I'll also be sharing this on my social media soon)

Being one who loves weird books, I had to pick this up because of the cover. It definitely has Stranger Things vibes and was very entertaining!

This is a great book for young readers. It's easy to read and fast paced, so the pages will keep turning.

The Mutant Mushroom Takeover by Summer Rachel Short, 2020

Recommended for grades 4-8; science fiction, adventure

Not yet published; this review refers to an Advanced Reader Copy from NetGalley

Eleven-year-old Magnolia and her friend Nate each have their own motivations for sneaking onto Old Man Bell’s property one summer night. Nate is an aspiring YouTuber investigating reports of “ghost lights” in the woods, but Magnolia (aka Maggie) just wants to take some photographs for her Junior Naturalist Merit Award project. She’s determined to win the award. Not only is she interested in natural sciences, but she feels a need to impress the board of Vitaccino, the health drink company where her father used to be a lab tech. He was fired six months ago and has been working at Yellowstone since then, leaving Maggie and her brother Ezra behind in Shady Pines, Texas with their grandmother. Maggie believes that she can persuade Vitaccino to rehire him if she makes a good enough impression with her own science skills.

When Maggie and Nate go to Old Man Bell’s woods that night, along with Ezra and some of his friends, Nate is disappointed to discover that the “ghost lights” are nothing more than bioluminescent fungi. But colorful, glowing mushrooms are perfect for Maggie’s project. Their expedition is interrupted, though, by Old Man Bell himself. As he tries to shoo the kids off of his property, he suddenly collapses. When Ezra leans over to try to help him, Old Man Bell coughs glowing spores into his face and whispers some mysterious last words, which Ezra later tells Maggie was “just a bunch of gibberish,” adding that it was something like “Of Yo Core Dee Sups.” The kids call the sheriff, but Old Man Bell later dies of an apparent heart attack.

After Old Man Bell’s death, strange things start happening. Maggie notices several instances of bizarre, synchronized behaviors in insects and spiders. She figures out what’s going on when she tries looking up Old Man Bell’s last words. “Ophiocordyceps” is the name of a parasitic fungus that infects South American Carpenter Ants, taking over their minds and essentially turning them into zombies. Maggie hypothesizes that there’s a mutated version of ophiocordyceps in Shady Pines. She and Nate go out looking for more evidence and find bioluminescent slime mold and a stinkhorn mushroom that seems to make insects especially aggressive. Meanwhile, Maggie is concerned about Ezra. He suddenly has a bad cough, is acting strangely, and sometimes looks a little bluish around the lips. She’s pretty sure he is sick from having inhaled spores in Old Man Bell’s woods.

If anyone has the resources to solve this problem, it’s Lydia Croft, CEO of Vitaccino and the main judge of the Junior Naturalist Merit Award. Maggie has been selected as a finalist and invited to give a presentation, so her strategy is to use her project to bring Vitaccino’s attention to the issue. Her presentation goes well; not only does she win first prize, but Lydia Croft asks her to continue investigating the fungus situation and implies that she intends to hire Maggie’s father after taking a closer look at some of his research notes.

When Maggie and Nate go back to the woods, they find that things have gotten much worse. In just the space of a couple weeks, the woods have become strangely overgrown, and there’s suddenly a creepy new caretaker who is bringing workers into the forest to harvest the mushrooms. Maggie’s investigations take a sudden turn later when Ezra informs her that Lydia and Charles Croft of Vitaccino own Old Man Bell’s property. Vitaccino already knows about the ophiocordyceps problem. In fact, they’re starting to use the fungus as an ingredient in their health drinks now. Old Man Bell had been holding the fungus at bay by spraying fungicide in the forest with his crop duster, and now that he’s dead, the ophiocordyceps has taken over the forest. It’s up to Maggie and Nate to acquire his fungicide and stop the spread of the spores.

This fast-paced, action-filled science fiction story is a close read-alike for Louis Sachar’s Fuzzy Mud from 2015 and is comparable to Jennifer L. Holm’s The Fourteenth Goldfish from 2014. Maggie’s love for science, while perhaps a little cliche, makes this book appealing for kids who share her interests, and the author skillfully blends actual scientific information into the fantastical story. An author’s note at the end clarifies which elements of the story are based in reality. Maggie’s experimental process and note-taking can also serve as a lesson in the scientific process, giving this book an extra element of educational value.

Readers with an affinity for spooky stories will also enjoy this book. Although all of the seemingly paranormal elements are explained away with biology concepts, the creepy forest setting and Nate’s frequent remarks about ghosts, zombies, and UFOs give the story a satisfyingly eerie tone. There were perhaps some missed opportunities for making a fascinating point about the fine line between natural wonders and the supernatural, but the concept is there for those who read between the just lines a little.

Unfortunately, the quaint small-town setting seems a little forced, most notably in the repetitive use of the moniker “Old Man Bell” and in the description of the local bait shop, which Maggie visits frequently because there’s a microscope she’s allowed to use. Every time Maggie enters the shop, there’s some mention of the Bubba Bass, a reference that some readers may not understand. (Even a Google search mostly brings up Spongebob references, not the singing animatronic fish wall hanging that I believe is meant here)

My other quibble with this book is that much of the characterization is a little shallow; aside from Magnolia herself, her father, and Nate, few of the characters have distinct personality traits or clear motivations. Ezra’s personality seems inconsistent, Mac from the bait shop never ends up playing a significant role in the plot, and various other adult characters are mentioned so briefly that it hardly seems worth the space on the page to specify their names and occupations. Nate’s three-year-old brothers come across as a poor attempt at comic relief; their vocabulary isn’t believable for their age and they don’t appear often enough to justify their presence in the story.

But for young readers with an interest in the book’s genre and tone, these minor shortcomings will do little to detract from the enjoyment of the story. While this book might not quite be Newbery Medal material, it’s well worth its weight in entertainment value.