It’s not every word that’s backwards, but lines. Fortunately, Singer has no wish to drive herself bonkers. When I first heard of a "reverso" I thought it meant a poem where every single word is backwards when it repeats. A beauty I’ll be." Then doubts set in and he sighs, "A beauty I’ll be? / Look at me – / plain to see." One of the smartest books out there for kids, young readers will be entranced by Singer’s wordplay and Masse’s lovely (if not equally clever) illustrations. In his upbeat poem he says confidently, "Plain to see – / look at me.
The ugly duckling, for example, has some doubts of his own potential beauty. The stories in this book are fairy tales and Singer not only tells the tales frontwards and backwards but gives them new stories too. Then Singer takes the same words, puts in some slightly different punctuation, and when each line is read backwards it tells an entirely new story. But what if we read them up?" Calling such poems "reversos", Singer’s concept is simple. Says the last page, "We read most poems down a page. Mirror Mirror, in short, delivers.īetter flip to the back of the book (how appropriate!) if you want an explanation of what’s going on here. It’s enjoyable for children, who will pore over the wordplay for long stretches of time, and it’s clever enough for the gatekeepers (librarians, teachers, parents, etc.) who want a poetry book for kids that doesn’t take them to Snoresville, USA. Mirror Mirror is everything a person wants in a book for kids. How clever of her to make it easy on me by producing a poetry picture book that is not only fun, not only clever, and not only beautiful to look at, but also has a good FIVE stars from five professional review journals. I’m looking at my watch and I see that it’s just about time that Ms. Poets like Marilyn Singer who has been doing good steady work for years and years. Non-fiction writers for kids demand more attention.
Graphic novelists of children’s fare increase. And as sales continue to be good and scholars take note of it more often, its sub-genres proliferate and gain acceptance.
Folks notice it and reference it more often. I like to think that the world of children’s literature has gained a bit more respect in the last decade or so. Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse
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