Mirror Mirror

1.    BIBLIOGRAPHY:  Singer, Marilyn. 2010.  MIRROR MIRROR. Masse, Josee.  New York, NY: Dutton Children’s Books. ISBN 9780525479017.

2. PLOT SUMMARY
Singer does a collection of fairy tale stories in poem format using dual points of view.  Cinderella is stuck cleaning while everyone else is at the ball, then she is the one everyone envies at the ball.  Sleeping Beauty is exhausted of sleeping while waiting for her prince, while the prince is feeling restless and sick of always having to work to keep looking for his true love.  Rapunzel has to manage her hair and the rumors about her mother, then she has to clean up the mess from cutting her hair.  Little Red Riding Hood picks tasty treats on the way to grandma’s house, while the wolf is admiring his tasty treat of Little Red Riding Hood.  The Ugly Duckling switches his opinion on whether or not he will end up as a beautiful swan.  Snow White would like to give the seven dwarves a break after a hard day of work and let them rest, while Snow White’s stepmother, the queen, is trying to put Snow White into a permanent sleep and kill her.  Jack and the giant both make plans for one another about how to benefit from the other.  Goldilocks blames the bears for leaving the door unlocked and breaking-in with her fear making the news, while the bears blame Goldilocks for the scaring them.  Hansel is given advice from both the witch and from Gretel about whether or not he should fatten up.  Rumpelstiltskin and the queen that guessed his name are portrayed by their foolish choices to one another and show how one’s name will be remembered.  The princess did not want to try more than once to kiss the frog to make him a prince, while he was frustrated that she would only try once to make him change into a prince, so he stayed a frog.  The beast found a soft place in his heart for the beauty, while the beauty looked deep and fell in love with the beast. 

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Marilyn Singer creates a splendid poem book with witty parallels.  The lines of poetry are written in exact reverse for the reader to understand the other perspective.  It is so clever!  Students love to see how order and sequence completely changes the meaning of the whole poem.  It focuses greatly on the fairy tales.  Some compare how the main character changed in the story and showed their inner struggle.  The others compare two characters that were seemingly unlike one another.  It was very unique!

The illustrations by Singer do an amazing job of supporting the story.  The pictures are blocked to show the different perspectives.  Half of the picture shows one side, while the other half of the picture shows the other perspective.  The text color of each poem is different and also has a different background color, so the two sides are emphasized as distinctively different.  In “Bears in the News”, the illustrations really focus on whose side you are supposed to agree with.  When it is Goldilocks talking, the bears are just brown shadows that are given no facial expressions or colors.  Then when it is the bears turn, Goldilocks is a brown shadow without expression.  The characters are always giving their impression and opinion on what is happening.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Bluebonnet Nominee 2011

Starred review in SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: "The vibrant artwork is painterly yet unfussy and offers hints to the characters who are narrating the poems. An endnote shows children how to create a "reverse" poem. This is a remarkably clever and versatile book that would work in any poetry or fairy-tale unit. A must-have for any library." Starred review in BOOKLIST: "Matching the cleverness of the text, Masse’s deep-hued paintings create split images that reflect the twisted meaning of the irreverently witty poems and brilliantly employ artistic elements of form and shape—Cinderella’s clock on one side morphs to the moon on the other. A must-purchase that will have readers marveling over a visual and verbal feast."
5. CONNECTIONS
*It would be great to use in conjunction with a fairy tale unit.

Other books about fairy tales: 

Mayer, Marianna.  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.  Mayer, Mercer.  ISBN 1587170175.

Lothlorien, Elle.  THE FROG PRINCE.  ISBN 14111196X.

Zelinsky, Paul O.  RAPUNZEL.  ISBN  0142301930.

Zelinsky, Paul O.  RUMPELSTILTSKIN.  ISBN  0140558640.

*It would be great to use in conjunction with teaching point of view.

Other books that deal with point of view:

Scieszka, Jon.  THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS.  ISBN 0670831018.

Randall, Ronne.  THE THREE LITTLE PIGS.  Dodd, Emma.  ISBN 1844229610.

Trivizas, Eugene.  THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES AND THE BIG BAD PIG.  Oxenbury, Helen.  ISBN 068981528X.

*This could be used in conjunction with sequencing.