42. Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer (Dutton Children's Books) 2010

Genre

Poetry

Honors

Flicker Tale Children's Book Award, 2011, nominee 
Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books, 2010, winner 
Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award, 2013, nominee
Beehive Children's Poetry Book Award, 2012, nominee 
American Library Association Notable Books for Children, 2011, winner
Black-Eyed Susan Book Award, 2011, nominee
Maryland Children's Book Award, 2011, nominee 
Land of Enchantment Book Award, 2011, winner 
North Carolina Children's Book Award, 2012, nominee
Rhode Island Children's Book Award, 2012, nominee
Volunteer State Book Award, 2013, nominee 
Red Clover Award, 2011, nominee

Review

The collection is a series of what Singer calls "reversos" -- poems that are read left to right and down, and then reversed such that the same poem is read left to right and up.  On the page Singer enacts the second reading on the page, which allows her to alter punctuation and capitalization and other effects (such as italics).  Singer chooses to present fairy tales, especially sections of the tale where there is an interaction between two characters.  Each poem, then, reads as the voice of one of the figures.

Opinion

At their best, Singer's poems work very well.  The reverso portions of "The Sleeping Beauty and the Wide-Awake Prince," "In The Hood," and "Bears in the News" are truly transformative, presenting wildly differing views of the same event.  However, a small number of the poems fall into the trap of her first ever reverso, which she reprints at the back of the book.

A cat
without
a chair: 
Incomplete.

[Reverso]
Incomplete: 
a chair
without
a cat. (Singer, 2010 no pagination)

While the original and reverso don't mean exactly the same thing, the meaning is not much altered.  It merely seems to note an inextricable bond between cat and chair.  The poem is still instructive in how meaning is altered by placement of words.  It shows the need for careful placement.  So, these verses aren't without merit, but after reading some of the truly great poems, these verses feel less fully explored.

Ideas

The book is great for thinking about two sides to a story and attempting to grasp someone else's perspective.  It also shows the importance of word placement.  Singer encourages her readers to try their hand at some reversos at the end of the book, and I think that this would make a fun program at the library.

References

Singer, M. (2010). Mirror Mirror. New York: Dutton Children's Books.