Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer

Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer

*Review created for Texas Woman’s University graduate level class*

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

                Singer, Marilyn. 2010. MIRROR MIRROR. Ill by Josée Masse. New York, New York. Dutton Children’s Books. ISBN 978-0-525-47901-7

2. SUMMARY

Mirror Mirror is a book of poetry based on fairy tales.  What makes this so interesting is that the poetry is in reverse and only changes in punctuation and capitalization can be made.  In essence, you have two poems, from two different viewpoints.  Did you ever wonder how Rumplestiltskin must feel, or how about the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk?  Now is your chance to find out!

3. CRITICAL REVIEWS

Singer’s reversible poetry is fun and engaging; children and adults are sure to like it.  The rhythm in this book tends to be short lines and creates an interesting, staccato, beat when read aloud.  This poem begs to be read aloud because of its fun, interesting, rhythm, and superb rhyming.  The rhyming does not feel forced, or lose any of its meaning.  Singer uses the long “a” and “o” in many of the reversible poems, which adds musicality to the poetry.  Children are going to love reading this aloud and discovering how musical Singer’s poetry is. 

The language Singer uses create a visual image of the poetry that children will love.

A moist muzzle

can welcome

a rose.

A hairy ear

can prize

a nightingale, singing.

(Marilyn Singer, “Mirror Mirror”)

Her use of imagery is perfect for children, her imagery is fun and interesting such as “a hairy ear” or “all that pale, tangled, dangling hair”.  In addition to her use of imagery, she also connects with readers emotionally, especially through humor.  Two of my favorite poems are told through the eyes of the The Sleeping Beauty and The Prince.  Sleeping Beauty complains about having to sleep all the time and being stuck inside.  The Prince complains about how he always has to work, “hacking through briars” and never being able to sleep.

The illustrations, done by Masse, are beautifully rendered and portray some of the common motifs of fairy tales, such as the rose in Beauty and the Beast, or the bone that Hansel holds out to the witch in Hansel and Gretel.  The illustrations do not help the move the poetry along, but helps clarify the poem.  It is visually entertaining for children.   All in all, Singer does a wonderful job of creating a stunning book of fairy tale poems that help children understand that in stories, and in life, there are always two sides to every tale.  After all if

A beast

can love

beauty.

Then surely

Beauty

can love

a Beast.

(Marilyn Singer, “Mirror, Mirror”)

It’s amazing what punctuation and capitalization can do.

4. REVIEWS/AWARDS

ALA Notable

Cybil Award in Poetry

Texas Bluebonnet Award nominee

5. CONNECTIONS

Read other reversible poetry, or other poetry books by Marilyn Singer.

Have a Skype appearance by Marilyn Singer, and read other poetry and books by her.

Have children try to create their own reversible poetry.

Have the children read aloud the poetry using props.

Works Cited

Marilyn Singer. "Poetry." Accessed July 3, 2012. http://marilynsinger.net/books/mirror-mirror-dutton-2010/.