MIRROR, MIRROR

Mirror, Mirror

Written by: Marilyn Singer

Illustrated by: Josee Masse

Penguin Group Publisher, 2010

32 pages

Poetry Book

            When looking in the poetry section at the library, this book caught my eye due to its cover illustration and the title. The book contains reversible verse poems that are about popular fairy tales and their characters. Reversible poems are poems in which one can read either top to bottom or bottom to top. Some of the fairy tale characters in which the book includes are: Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Snow White. Typically, the reverse poems take the prospective of one character while the other takes the perspective of another character within the same fairy tale. My personal favorite poem is “In the Hood.”  In the poem, “In the Hood,” Little Red Riding Hood’s perspective is given and then, when read reversed the wolf’s gives his perspective.  

The Illustrations within the book are very unique. The illustrator painted by mirroring. One side of a painting demonstrates one character’s perspective while the other side demonstrates the other characters. Each side, however, blends smoothly with the other and contains bright coloring. The text with this book are most formal for it is separate from the illustrations.  I personally love how the illustrations add in the comprehension of the poems different perspectives.

           Mirror, Mirror has won several awards such as the Cybil Award for poetry and it has been selected for many acknowledgements. I personally feel that this book is appropriate for all ages and I much enjoyed reading the poems myself.  However, if I were to use this book for a lesson I would choose to use it in grade second to fifth for some contents in the story could be difficult. The most obvious lesson one could pull to go along with this book in in comparing and contrasting. I would have students compare and contrast the different perspectives of the characters. Other lessons one might could include going along which this book would be on poetry. Students could even create their own reversible poems