- Picture Books
- Ages 5–9
- Fairy Tales
Leina and the Lord of the Toadstools
A lush, eerie forest fairy tale about a girl, a feared woodland and the mysterious Lord of the Toadstools. It is especially strong for children who like moral fables wrapped in beautiful, strange fantasy art.
- Best for5–9
- FormatPicture
- Length48 pp
- Read aloud~10 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Lyrical
- Literary
Tone
- Dark
- Whimsical
- Suspenseful
- Heartwarming
- Thought provoking
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Leina owns the only boat in town and ferries people across to the forest, where they cut trees and hunt animals. Everyone fears the forest, and not everyone who goes in comes back. When Leina accepts an invitation from the Lord of the Toadstools, she discovers the secret of the forest and the mystery of the missing townsfolk. This is a richly atmospheric picture book with a strong old-fairy-tale feeling: beautiful, unsettling and morally charged. Júlia Sardà's illustrations make the forest feel alive with pattern, shadow and strange magic, while the story asks readers to think about gratitude, forgiveness and the consequences of taking from nature without understanding it. It is not a loud adventure, but a slow, immersive, giftable tale for readers who enjoy enchanted forests, mysterious hosts and stories with a moral bite.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 5–9
- Read aloud · 5–9
- Independent · 7–10
Prose load
Moderate
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Workable
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Reading together
- Gift-buying
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: scary imagery.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
3 / 5 · Mostly fine
Graphic intensity
3 / 5 · Some
Best for
- Enchanted forest
- Modern fairy tale
- Beautiful illustrations
- Nature fable
- Older picture book
Avoid if
- Very sensitive to dark forests
- Wants light funny read
- Prefers realistic stories
Particularly good for children who are…
- Anxiety and worry
- Nightmares or fears
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A lyrical, atmospheric fairy tale about respecting nature — a lovely read-aloud for talk about responsibility and a model for descriptive writing.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific weight is the forest's secret — Leina owning the only boat across to the woods, not everyone who enters returning, an invitation from the Lord of the Toadstools revealing what's actually happening. The Dahman / Sardà picture book that does enchanted-forest moral fable properly.
- Secret world
- Magic powers
- Making a difference
- Surviving danger
Why parents love it
The Myriam Dahman / Nicolas Digard with Júlia Sardà illustrations — old-fairy-tale atmosphere, lush pattern and shadow, gratitude / forgiveness / taking-from-nature as the moral spine. Slow, immersive, giftable for older picture-book readers.
- Beautiful illustrations
- Great writing
- Conversation starter
- Indie gem discovery
About the creators
About the creators.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
More like this…
Books that share themes and topics with this one.
Where you’ll find it
On these reading lists.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
When you buy through the links above, we may earn a small commission — it never costs you more, and it never changes the books we choose. How we’re funded →