Porcini's Great Escape

This meandering story introduces a mushroom with a thirst for adventure. Born "into a privileged family of mushrooms%E2%80%9D in Italy's Apennine Mountains, Porcini, who "was known by fellow mushrooms as being down-to-earth with a nutty personality,%E2%80%9D hopes to avoid the fate of her brethren, namely being sold at market and "most likely end[ing] up grilled and served with fresh olive oil and parsley. This was a highly desired fate and widely accepted among mushrooms.%E2%80%9D Wanting more from life, however, Porcini has her first brush with freedom when she bounces out of the farmer's basket, only to be retrieved and eventually sold to a chef in Rome; luckily for Porcini, her downhill roll splits her stem in two to resemble legs, giving her mobility and keeping the chef from serving her to customers. Opposite Yee's recounting of Porcini's travails are clean, brightly colored digital cartoons%E2%80%94Porcini herself is lightly anthropomorphized with gray eyes and other facial features that remain virtually unchanged throughout. Although Porcini successfully avoids being cooked and consumed, her first adventure comes across as overlong and anticlimactic. Ages 7%E2%80%9310.