Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer; illustrated by Josee Masse

[Bluebonnet pick]

Mirror Mirror is a book of reversible verse—what does that mean? I think it is best served with an example.

“The Doubtful Duckling” Take I
Someday
I’ll turn into a swan
No way
I’ll stay
An ugly duckling
Stubby and gray,
Plain to see—
Look at me.
A beauty I’ll be.

“The Doubtful Duckling” Take II (reversed)
A beauty I’ll be?
Look at me—
Plain to see,
Stubby and gray.
An ugly duckling
I’ll stay.
No way
I’ll turn into a swan
Someday.

Singer and Masse take the themes from fairy tales and write poetry about them, creating different themes using reversible poetry. It takes some talent to write the poetry that can be reversed and still create meaning, and it is quite fun. This would be a great poetry exercise with elementary, middle, and even high school students—to write a poem over a theme, and then have them reverse the poem to see what else the poem states about the theme.

The illustrations are quite colorful and vibrant, and show the duality of the reversible poems. For instance, “The Doubtful Duckling” has a swan that is part swan and part ugly duckling.