Singer, M. MIRROR, MIRROR: a book of reversible verse. Ill. by Josee Masse. 2010. New York: Dutton Children's Books. ISBN 9780525479017.
Singer's delightful book of "reverso poems" is a fun book of poetry! As Singer points out in an author's note, a person can write a reverso poem about anything, but in this book the author chose to focus on fairy tales. This is a great book to incorporate with middle grade to 8th grade-age readers in the school or public library. Since the reverso poems tell two sides of the fairy tale, they are great for having readers perform! Josee Masse's beautiful artwork compliments the poems well.
Singer presents poems from different fairy tales, including:
Cinderella (her double life!), Sleeping Beauty (and the wide-awake Prince),
Rapunzel and her luscious locks, Little Red Riding Hood (and that big scary
wolf!), the Ugly Duckling, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Jack and the
Beanstalk, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin,
the Princess and the Frog, and Beauty and the Beast.
With such a plethora of poems to choose from it was difficult to choose one which shows Singer’s great reverso poetry style. All of Singer's poems are high quality, though they vary in length and tone, they are all interesting because of the same reverso form. One of the poems I liked best is “Rapunzel’s Locks”:
With such a plethora of poems to choose from it was difficult to choose one which shows Singer’s great reverso poetry style. All of Singer's poems are high quality, though they vary in length and tone, they are all interesting because of the same reverso form. One of the poems I liked best is “Rapunzel’s Locks”:
No wonder she felt snippy.
Sweeping the floor
it took forever to manage-
all that pale, tangled, dangling hair.
Cut off,
shut up in the tower,
who was
that strange girl with the weird name?
You know,
someone said her mother was a witch.
It figures.
It figures.
It figures.
Someone said her
mother was a witch.
You know
that strange girl with the weird name,
who was
shut up in the tower,
cut off
all that pale, tangled, dangling hair?
It took forever to manage
sweeping the floor.
No wonder she felt snippy.The illustration that accompanies this poem shows Rapunzel with half of her long, beautiful locks cut off by the evil witch and the other half still there. In the background you can see the mean witch walking off with Rapunzel's hair. A fun way to introduce this poem to middle-grade readers (about 3rd-6th grade-aged children), would be to read the poem (both 'versions') aloud once through. After that, the parent, teacher or librarian could invite readers to read the poem silently.
Then the adult could divide the readers into two groups, with one group reading one version of the poem and the other group reading the reverso poem. After the readers are comfortable reading both versions of the poem aloud in two groups, they can then meet with a partner to practice reading the poem aloud as 'two voices'. The 'two voices' method will take much practice, but as the readers practice reading the two poems at the same time, they will be able to see how the lines overlap and work together. It really is the highlight of performance, and it will be fun as readers work up to performing the poem aloud.
Mirror, mirror book cover. JPEG. Retrieved from http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780525479017,00.html?Mirror_Mirror:_A_Book_of_Reversible_Verse_Marilyn_Singer
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