Mirror, Mirror

Singer, M. (2010). Mirror, mirror. New York, New York: Penguin Group. Fairy tales are typically presented with one side of the story, the one we saw in children’s movies. In Mirror, Mirror fairy tales are present from two points of views in the form of poems. Each fairy tale is presented with a different title and from both point of views that is accompanied by an illustration on the opposite page. The illustration is split in half to depict the point of views for each fairy tale. Singer does a fantastic job displaying vibrant colors of all kinds. Lots of blues, greens, reds, yellows, and oranges fill the pages.  The colors range from shallow to deep textures. Lines are used to show the textures of the characters and landscapes, as well as, provided the split between each point of view. This book would be a great tool for teaching point of view and poetry to both younger and older readers.  Students can annotate each poem and use a “name and explain it” graphic organizer. Students can use a venn diagram or t-chart to compare and contrast the poems as well. Using the pictures only, students can practice inferencng. This can be done as a class as a warm up to the readings of the poems.