Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Singer, Marilyn. 2010. Mirror Mirror. Ill by Josee Masse. New York: --Dutton Children's Books. ISBN 9780525479017

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Marilyn Singer’s unique book of fourteen different fairy-tale poems is cleverly written in reverseo. On one side of the page the poem is written down and then the exact words are written backward going up. Except for the capitalization, punctuation and line breaks the poems read the same forward and backward. Many of the well known fairy tales like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood are retold with surprise variations. This is a must read for those who are enchanted by fairy tales and poetry.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Marilyn Singer’s Mirror Mirror poetry book is written in a unique way to retell a story packed with emotion and visual imagery through few words. This powerful style of writing adds a new dimension to retelling of favorite fairy tales. The arrangement of lines and verses is deliberate to create a distinctive language full of metaphors and significance. The color scheme on the written page is split in half with yellow on one side and white on the other. Josee Masse’s illustrations use colors rich in reds, yellows, greens and blues. The side by side pictures depict the polar opposites of time and the reversal meanings. The only poem that deviates from the side by side pictures is The Doubtful Duckling. Its picture is split into fourths with the ugly duckling’s head on top and the beautiful swan’s elegant neck and head mirror imaged on the bottom. The Swan’s backend is on top with the ugly duckling’s tail end on the bottom. The colors and hues of yellow, green and blue flow from frame to frame like the water and sky. It gives the four intertwined pictures a common theme.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Patricia Austin (Booklist, Jan. 1, 2010 (Vol. 106, No. 9))
Starred Review* This ingenious book of reversos, or poems which have one meaning when read down the page and perhaps an altogether different meaning when read up the page, toys with and reinvents oh-so-familiar stories and characters, from Cinderella to the Ugly Duckling.
Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2010 (Vol. 78, No. 4))
A collection of masterful fairy-tale–inspired reversos—a poetic form invented by the author, in which each poem is presented forward and backward. Starred Review

5. CONNECTIONS:
a. Do an author study on Marilyn Singer see her website http://www.marilynsinger.net/index.htm
b. Use her Fairy Tales and compare them to her poetry books
c. Compare and contrast her books to other books from Jack Prelutsky, Bruce Lanksy, Laura Numeroff, and Shel Silverstein
d. Use a document camera to capture the presentation of this book for everyone to see
e. Create poetry in reverse
f. Read some of Marilyn Singer’s other books

Poetry books by Marilyn Singer
FIRST FOOD FIGHT THIS FALL (Sterling, 2008)Illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa. SHOE BOP! (Dutton, 2008) Illustrated by Hiroe Nakata.
MONDAY ON THE MISSISSIPPI (Holt, 2005) Illustrated by Frane Lessac.
CENTRAL HEATING: Poems about Fire and Warmth (Knopf, 2005) Illustrated by Meilo So.
CREATURE CARNIVAL (Hyperion, 2004) Illustrated by Gris Grimly.HOW TO CROSS A POND: Poems About Water (Knopf, 2003) Illustrated by Meilo So.
FIREFLIES AT MIDNIGHT (Atheneum, 2003) Illustrated by Ken Robbins.
THE COMPANY OF CROWS (Clarion, 2002) Illustrated by Linda Saport.
FOOTPRINTS ON THE ROOF: Poems About the Earth (Knopf, 2002) Illustrated by Meilo So.
MONSTER MUSEUM (Hyperion, 2001) Illustrated by Gris Grimly.
ALL WE NEEDED TO SAY (Atheneum, 1996) Photographs by Lorna Clark.
THE MORGANS DREAM (Holt, 1995) Illustrated by Gary Drake.
PLEASE DON'T SQUEEZE YOUR BOA, NOAH! (Holt, 1995) Illustrated by Clement Oubrerie.
FAMILY REUNION (Macmillan, 1994) Illustrated by R.W. Alley.
SKY WORDS (Macmillan, 1994) Illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray.
IT'S HARD TO READ A MAP WITH A BEAGLE ON YOUR LAP (Holt, 1993) Illustrated by Clement Oubrerie.
IN MY TENT (Macmillan, 1992) Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully.
TURTLE IN JULY (Macmillan, 1989) Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney.