Not only do I admire the imagination and skill involved in making these mushroom-books, there is a personal association. Spotty mushrooms are deeply ingrained in my childhood - appearing in the German children's books that were read to me (especially Die Haschenschule). A favourite aunt had a set of red and white spotted china, possibly pre-war, still in use when we visited her in the 1970s. Yet Amanita muscaria, though beautiful, is poisonous and psychoactive (red for danger?). Unromantically, it is commonly known as fly agaric.
Perhaps, the connotations here are that we can learn from the mushroom, as a teacher?
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