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The War of the Mushrooms & Beetles

CAD $22.00

I am so in love with this book that I spent the time translating and printing it so English speakers can enjoy it too. If anyone Native Ukrainian speakers notice anything weird with how I have adapted it I would love to hear your thought so please shoot me an email. 🙂

This book is an allegorical tale intended to convey moral or social messages through conflicts between mushrooms & beetles. Filled with detailed whimsical illustrations by prominent Ukrainian graphic designer Okhrim Sudomora. He worked on numerous children’s books, including this one Viina Hrybiv z Zhukamy (The War between Mushrooms & Beetles) that was published in 1919 when the Red Army fought the White Army in the Russian Civil War.

In 1943 Sudomora moved to Lviv due to the very strong nationalist movement happening there. Lviv was still under German occupation at the time but it was nearing the end of the mass murders of the city’s Jewish population. He worked there until 1945, illustrating magazines and children’s books in the only legal Ukrainian publishing house under the German occupation. After the Soviet army captured the city he moved to Kharkiv and worked there until 1948.

In 1949 he was arrested for Anti-Soviet activities (some say this was for creating a caricature of Stalin with blood covered hands) and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was granted amnesty in 1955 but there are whispers that he was actually killed in prison by the NKVD.

Translated & Adapted by TheWitchery.Ca in 2025

English & Ukrainian
Original Ukrainian on left & English translations on right

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Additional information

Weight 50 g
Dimensions 23 × 0.2 × 16 cm

Description

I am so in love with this book that I spent the time translating and printing it so English speakers can enjoy it too. If anyone Native Ukrainian speakers notice anything weird with how I have adapted it I would love to hear your thought so please shoot me an email. 🙂

This book is an allegorical tale intended to convey moral or social messages through conflicts between mushrooms & beetles. Filled with detailed whimsical illustrations by prominent Ukrainian graphic designer Okhrim Sudomora. He worked on numerous children’s books, including this one Viina Hrybiv z Zhukamy (The War between Mushrooms & Beetles) that was published in 1919 when the Red Army fought the White Army in the Russian Civil War.

In 1943 Sudomora moved to Lviv due to the very strong nationalist movement happening there. Lviv was still under German occupation at the time but it was nearing the end of the mass murders of the city’s Jewish population. He worked there until 1945, illustrating magazines and children’s books in the only legal Ukrainian publishing house under the German occupation. After the Soviet army captured the city he moved to Kharkiv and worked there until 1948.

In 1949 he was arrested for Anti-Soviet activities (some say this was for creating a caricature of Stalin with blood covered hands) and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was granted amnesty in 1955 but there are whispers that he was actually killed in prison by the NKVD.

Translated & Adapted by TheWitchery.Ca in 2025

English & Ukrainian
Original Ukrainian on left & English translations on right