Book Summary: Singer has taken famous fairy tales like Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Cinderella, and more to create her book of reverso poetry. One character's poem told from their point of view is one side of the page and the exact same poem is on the other side of the page- but in reverse to be a different characters point of view. An example of this is the Evil Stepmother on one side and Snow White on the other side.
APA Reference: Singer, Marilyn. (2010). Mirror mirror: A book of reverso poems. New York, NY: Dutton Books for Young Readers.
Impressions: This is extremely creative! I'm amazed that this is a thing and that it totally makes sense. This is a unique spin on classic stories as well as poetry. I found myself stopping and reflecting on each one.
Professional Review: This ingenious book of reversos, or poems which have one meaning when read down the page and perhaps an altogether different meaning when read up the page, toys with and reinvents oh-so-familiar stories and characters, from Cinderella to the Ugly Duckling. The five opening lines of the Goldilocks reverso read: “Asleep in cub’s bed / Blonde / startled by / Bears, / the headline read.” Running down the page side-by-side with this poem is a second, which ends with: “Next day / the headline read: / Bears startled / by blonde / asleep in cub’s bed.” The 14 pairs of poems—easily distinguished by different fonts and background colors—allow changes only in punctuation, capitalization, and line breaks, as Singer explains in an author’s note about her invented poetic form. “It is a form that is both challenging and fun—rather like creating and solving a puzzle.” Singer also issues an invitation for readers to try to write their own reversos on any topic. 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. Grades 2-5. --Patricia Austin
Austin, Patricia. [Review of the book Mirror mirror: A book of reverso poems]. Booklist. Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Book-Reverso-Poems/dp/0525479015
Library Uses: Not only would this be great for poetry lessons, but it would be amazing for point of view! Students should know the fairytales mentioned and should be able to identify who is the speaker in each side of the poem. A challenge would be to have a contest for students to write their own reverso poems.
