MIRROR MIRROR by Marilyn Singer

Bibliography

Singer, Marilyn. 2010. Mirror Mirror. Ill by Josée Masse. New York: Dutton Children's Books. ISBN 0525479015

Summary

Marilyn Singer retells well known fairy tales through reverse poems she calls “reverso.” When read in one direction, the story unfolds one way, in the usually more traditional telling of the story. When the poem is then reversed and read from bottom to top, the story becomes quite different.

Critical Analysis

Each of Singer’s reverso poems are written in two stanzas with the first being a more traditional version of the story and the second being the reverso, or upside down version that shows the story from a different perspective. The technique alone is interesting and a very creative way of analyzing well-known stories. Her poems cause the reader to stop and really think about the story.

Singer’s poems are written in free verse, which allows her to manipulate the lines so that when the story is read in reverse it still makes sense. She was very careful to use certain phrases and the freedom of free verse poetry to make each poem work, with surprising results. One moment the Ugly Duckling is confident that one day “A beauty I’ll be.” And the next he is unsure, thinking “No way/ I’ll turn into a swan.” Then there is the story of Goldilocks and the three bears written as if it were a news story with one side stating, “Asleep in cub’s bed,/ blonde/ startled by/ bears.” The other side reads “Bears startled/ by blonde/ asleep in cub’s bed.”

Masse’s illustrations creatively help to show both perspectives of each poem by creating split images. The images make the reader, combined with the mixed up story, consider who really is the hero or villain of each story.

Review Excerpts

2011 ALA Notable Books for Children Award winner

2010 Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Books Award winner

Horn Book Magazine – "Through a poetic invention she dubs the reverso, Singer meditates on twelve familiar folktales, and, via the magic of shifting line breaks and punctuation, their shadows." 

Booklist - "A must-purchase that will have readers marveling over a visual and verbal feast." – Patricia Austin

Connections

Compare and contrast the two sides of the fairy tale as resented in each poem.

Read a traditional version of the fairy tale and contrast it with Singer’s versions.

Have students write their own version of a story from a different perspective in the same way that Singer’s reverse does.