Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems

Written by Marilyn Singer

Narrated by Marilyn Singer and Joe Morton

What’s brewing when two favorites — poetry and fairy tales —
are turned (literally) on their heads? It’s a revolutionary recipe: an infectious new genre of poetry and a lovably modern take on classic stories.

First, read the poems forward (how old-fashioned!), then reverse the lines and read again to give familiar tales, from Sleeping Beauty to that Charming Prince, a delicious new spin. Witty, irreverent, and warm, this gorgeously illustrated and utterly unique offering holds a mirror up to language and fairy tales, and renews the fun and magic of both.

A Live Oak Media audio production.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Live Oak Media
• Release date: Jan 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781430115403

Marilyn Singer

Marilyn Singer is the author of more than one hundred books for children, including the Tallulah books. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and Washington, Connecticut. Visit her online at marilynsinger.net.

Reviews for Mirror, Mirror

[mrsbond_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fun collection of poems (and illustrations) that look at two sides of popular fairy tales.

[aliceap-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer with pictures by Josee Masse contains reverso poetry based on fairy tales which when read in one direction tells one story (and from one POV) but when read in reverse is a wholly different story. An example would be Cinderella’s story on one page and the stepsister's tale on the other page. The illustrations were truly excellent and the concept unique (and well executed) but as I had hoped to use this as a readaloud it didn't quite hit the mark for me. This is more of a singular reading experience or one-to-one with just one child. 6/10

[bwheatley-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A creative book that features reverso poems--you can read it one way, then flip and read the other way.

[canderson15-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a book that is filled with different reverso poems about different classic fairytales. Such as the story of Cinderella is told in a backward fashion. This is a good book because of the different style that is portrayed in these poems. This is a good book because it shows how a different style can affect a text's overall meaning and theme.

[hlevy-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Marilyn Singer has a delightful way of looking at fairytales from both sides - up and down. Each poem tells the story from two perspectives, sometimes challenging our notion of the story's point. Sometimes one character tells the story two different ways, as in The Doubtful Duckling. In other poems we see the same story through the eyes of two different characters, as in Full of Beans. Jose Masse's beautiful illustrations enhance these wonderful poems.

[sberry6-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All of your favorite fairy tales told in poem form from different perspectives. I really enjoyed this book! It was a great way to study poems with content that younger children will be able to understand. I thought the subject of the book was great. All of the poems were fairy tales that many younger students will know. By reading this book students will be able to compare and contrast the stories they know to the poems they are reading. A great example of this is the poem Goldie locks and the three bears. In the fairy tale it talks of a young girl who stumbles upon the home of the three bears where she makes herself a little too comfortable in their space. In the reverse poem we got the view from Goldie and the view from the Bears point of view, but the interesting aspect is that the same words are used. I think the moral of this story is that there are multiple views in poetry and it is important for young students to be open to different viewpoints.

[rachel.mcconville · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book of poems has fun fairy tale based poems that are easily reversed, which adds another layer to the poem. Read them from top to bottom, then read them from the bottom to the top and you get a little bit different perspective.

[karin7-11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“There are two sides to every story.”
Mirror, Mirror
is the fairy tale book
full of reversible verse
with fairy tale pictures
for very young kids
but mostly
for adults who actually understand these
though they are similar,
These are not true palindromes.

These are not true palindromes
though they are similar
for adults who actually understand these
but mostly
for very young kids
with fairy tale pictures
full of reversible verse
is the fairy tale book
Mirror, Mirror
“There are two sides to every story.”

This was a delightful collection of verse that showed two sides to every story with the reversible poems which were rather more clever than what I whipped off for the review. I can see why adults might appreciate the verses more than very young chldren, but the pictures are very child friendly. I enjoyed it.

[atroesch-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a fun book to explore word use and understanding the structure of poems. I think this would be a good book to use in 1-3 grade classes. I think it would be fun to do an art project based off of some the poems and how the child personally envisions it.

[shakelawilliams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed reading Mirror, Mirror by Marilyn Singer for numerous reasons. Firstly, I think that the overall set up of each poem really engages the reader. The each poem is reversed; physically the same poem is flipped upside down. For example, the “In the Hood” poem describes the wolf s anticipation to eat Red Riding Hood. The reversed poem is about Red Riding Hood trying to stay on task because she has to see her Grandma. This book helps readers look at multiple perspectives while reading various text, which is a key literary technique students should learn. I also thought that the language is extremely engaging for children. For example The Hansel and Gretel poem started like this “Fatten up, boy! Don’t you like prime rib?” then in the mirrored poem it ended like this “ Then your hostess, she will roast you like prime rib. Don’t you fatten up boy!” I believe that the way each poem is written really draws the reader in, and sparks their curiosity. The main idea of this book is to motivate the reader to understand various perspectives.

[mpotts1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There are many reasons I like this collection of poems. To start, the writing is incredible and set up like no other collection I have ever read before. On one side there would be a poem about a fairy tale. Then right next to it would be the same words but written from a reverse perspective. The first side of the poem was usually the happy ending of the fairy tale and the second half was the darker ending of the story. The fact that Singer was able to write this type of literature was amazing. The creativity in this work was incredibly engaging. I also liked the book for its enticing illustrations, which I felt enhanced the text because it correlated so well. For the poem "Mirror Mirror", the first poem's illustration was of Snow White with the Seven Dwarves. The other half of the illustration, drawn for the second poem, showed the evil queen plotting to poison Snow White with an apple. The illustrations succeeded in telling two sides of the same story while matching the text of the reversing poems. Overall, the message of "two sides to every story" really was shown through the text and the illustrations and I will definitely be purchasing a copy in the future!

[nicoleginex · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really liked a poem from the book, "Mirror, Mirror," by Marilyn Singer. The title of the poem was, "Cinderella's Double Life." Firstly, I liked the format of the poem, along with the other poems inside of the book. I liked the format because the poem was written in one way, then on the opposite side of the page the poem was reversed and written from end to start and still made sense. For example, in the beginning of this poem the first time, Cinderella says, "Isn't life unfair?" because her step sisters can attend the ball, and she cannot. Then, when the poem is reversed Cinderella repeats, "Isn't life unfair?" because she is the one dancing with the prince. I also liked the main idea of the story and how it changes. The main idea of the poem is don't always believe everything is as it seems. I think this is the main idea because when the story flips and the punctuation is changed, the meaning also changes. For example, Cinderella starts by feeling bad for herself not at the ball, then at the second time she loves her life because she is with the prince.

[khammersla-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved the poetry book Mirror Mirror. I have always enjoyed fairytales since I was little and up until now. This book was pure genius and it gave such a fun spin onto all the different fairytales. The way the book was written was my favorite part about the book. On one side there would be a poem about one of the fairytales. Then right next to it would be the same words but written backwards. Each poem had a completely different meaning to it, but both made complete sense. The first side was usually the happy ending of the fairytale, or the “bright side”. The second half was the darker side of the story. The fact that Singer was able to write this type of literature was incredible. The creativity and brilliance in this work was incredible. Another aspect about the book that I really loved was it showed the reader how important punctuation marks can be in writing. often people overlook the need for punctuations. They are so small and don’t always seem important, but here the author showed us that with a slight change in punctuation the same word can have two entirely different meanings.

[carriehardesty · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mirror Mirror is an extremely interesting and fun collection of poems! I like this book for two reasons. First, I really enjoy the style of the poems. Written in “reverso” style, each poem is written in its entirety, then flipped and written word for word in reverse. The poems are written in such a way that they make complete sense both ways. The authors of the poems must be extremely talented in order to write poems that can be read both forward and backward! Another aspect of the poems that I enjoy is the fact that the poems are based off of traditional and familiar fairy tales. The book includes poems about Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, The Ugly Duckling, and more. These familiar stories attract readers and make the poems easier to follow and understand.The big idea of this book is to tell the stories of traditional fairy tale characters in a new way.

[athena.j · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The genre of this book is poetry. Every fairy tale has two sides to its story, and this book of poetry explores that idea, including two poems for every story. The twist is that the poem is literally flipped on its head the second time. The fairy tales are told in reversible verse. The poems in this book range to Beauty and the Beast, the princess and the frog, and Sleeping Beauty, and the hard-working prince.

[kkadal1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed "Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems", the central message of which was that there are two sides to every story. I liked this book for its patterned language, as was evidenced in its 'reverso' poems, each of which told two sides to the same story both forwards and backwards. In the poem "Mirror Mirror", for example, the language was clear and flowed well. The first poem started by insisting that Snow White get some rest and ended with Snow White getting off her feet. The 'reverso' version of that poem began with Snow White getting off her feet, and ended with her getting some rest. Additionally, I liked the book for its witty illustrations, which I felt greatly enhanced the text. For the poem "Mirror Mirror", the first poem's illustration was of Snow White with the Seven Dwarves. The other half of the illustration, drawn for the second poem, showed the evil queen plotting to poison Snow White with an apple. The illustrations succeeded in telling two sides of the same story, as did the poems. I feel that this book would be highly entertaining for young children to read, and would be a great way to encourage the reading and enjoyment of poetry.

[jherrm1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In my opinion this is a great book to read in order for students to have a better grasp on poetry. This is a great book because it uses stories that the students should have already heard such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Bell from Beauty and The Beast. This story allowed students to read poetry and understand different forms of poetry. The Illustrations were very beautiful they portrayed different fantasy characters with very vivid color and a reverse imagine in the mirror. I would recommend this for students to learn about poetry.

[amccann-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mirror Mirror is a whole book about different folklore tales told as reversible poetry. Reversible poetry is a poem that tell one story and when the lines are put in order from last to first it then tells another point of view. One that I like is "Have Another Cookie" The classic tale of Hansel and Gretel. The first poem is the witch talking to Hansel how she will cook for him a roasted goose. Then the second one when the lines are switched it is Gretel talking to Hansel how he shouldn't eat what the witch give him or he will be cooked like a roasted goose.

[jmitra1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Although one of the collections I've placed this book in was "traditional fantasy", this book is nothing but traditional! It takes a very conceptual take on picture books in an almost post-modern way. This book really puts a spin on storytelling, and looks great while doing it.

[hollyegirard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I would use this story for when I would be introducing poetry and this would be my reading lesson to introduce the poetry unit. Students will enjoy the story because of the we way it was written and how different it is.

[carolinetownsend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely loved this poetry book! The poems were told from two different points of view based on the classic fairy tales. One point of view was positive and the other was negative. I also really liked the writing style of these poems. The poems were written in “reverso” where only the direction and punctuation were changed. Lastly, the illustrations were also very interesting. The illustrations were framed which showed the two different points of view on the same story, on the same page. The main idea of this book was to show that there are at least two sides to every story.

[lmcswe1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I would have to say that this is probably my favorite book out of all the ones I’ve read this semester. I’m an extraordinary creative person and am always looking for unique books to read. I’m also a lover of rhyming poetry, so this book was a perfect fit for me. My favorite part about this book was recognizing the sheer effort it must’ve taken to write it. Not only were the poems the same forward and backwards, they actually made sense. It was really cool to see fairytales told from two different perspectives in such a manner. Another thing I liked about this book was the illustrations. Similar to the style of poetry, many of the illustrations were “mirrorlike,” almost like a playing card. I really enjoyed how this coincided with the poems. I think the main idea of this book is that things aren’t always as they seem. This is an important lesson to learn because perspective is so important in literature. Overall, I would give this book a five out of five easily.

[shelbyburton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book differs greatly from any other I have read. I enjoyed the use of a new form of poetry on classic fairytales. By using reversal poetry on stories that many readers have seen before it puts them in a new light. For example when they told the story of sleeping beauty one side of the poem told how bored sleeping beauty was with just staying in the tower all day, but then when the poem was flipped it told the story of how the prince hated being out and about all day, always busy. The author does this with a number of classic stories and adds to what we already know, creating great interest in the story for readers. This pretty much directly states the author’s main message that every story has multiple perspectives, specifically two sides.

[gaiagonzales · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think that this is a fascinating and unique book. Each poem in this book is based on a fairytale such as Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, among many others. I thoroughly enjoyed each poem and its reversal. The original poem and its reversal show two different emotions, points of view, or parts of the classic fairytale. For example, in the poem titled, “Cinderella’s Double Life”, it was clear that the author depicted two different sides of Cinderella’s story. For instance, in the first poem, Cinderella is sad because she is stuck in a corner shining shoes and that her sisters can go to the ball and she cannot. Whereas in the reversal of the poem, Cinderella is dancing with the Prince while her stepsisters are jealous in a corner. It is very interesting to see how the author created these poems by using the same words in both poems but can still manage to carry different meanings! Another thing I loved about this book were the illustrations. Each illustrated page is split down the middle with each side depicting the two different poems. I thought the illustrations were very well done while still maintaining the overall feel of their respective poem. After reading this book, I felt that the big idea is to always know that a story may have more than one side to it.

[stephanieweiner · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was very interesting to read. I liked all the poems. They were about princess and therefore easy for me to follow along on what the poem was conveying. However, the best part about all the poems was when written in reverse held another poem. This was done so well and made the book more fun to read because it left you wondering how the author became so skilled at making these types of poems. I think the big idea of the poems were to be yourself. In the Cinderella poem it talks about her going to the ball and not living in her sisters shadow.

[torilynae · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book. I enjoyed the style of poetry and the illustrations. The style of poetry is called reverso. It is really very interesting because the first poem you read from top to bottom, beginning to end. The second poem uses the same words as the first one but in reverse. For example,“Isn’tA fairy talethisthisa fairy tale?isn’t…”It is really amazing how the author was able to reverse the poems and not only do they make perfect sense but they also tell a completely different side of the story. This whole book focuses on fairy tales and shows the different perspectives of characters. One is from the point of view of Goldilocks and the other from the point of view of the bears but it is the same poem, just in reverse. The illustrations went great with the poems. On one half of the page it will describe the first poem and in the second half the second poem but as a whole it still makes a picture. On the page with Goldilocks and the three bears Goldilocks is in color on one side while the bears are shadowed. On the other side the bears are in color and Goldilocks is shadowed. This helps the reader visually see what is going on. The big idea is for enjoyment and teaching to see different perspectives.

[kottenbrookk · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Mirror Mirror is a visually striking picture book with an intriguing premise, but the varied success of the writing and the often-complicated language and syntax lessen the book’s overall quality and usefulness. The book consists of poems, which the author calls “reversos,” that make sense read either top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top. Each poem is written out both ways on one page, with the accompanying single-page illustration opposite them. The poems refer to familiar fairy tales, such as Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella, and readers will need to have some knowledge of the stories in order to understand the poems. Some of the poems work better than others; in many cases the author has sacrificed meaning to maintain the “reverso” format. Though the words used in the poems are simple enough for young children, the syntax could be confusing; this book would be best suited for reading aloud. The illustrations are vibrantly colorful, with bold, rounded shapes and high contrast. They do not add substance to the poems, but often provide clarification. While children who enjoy fairy tales will like the new approach to familiar stories, the novelty wears off quickly, and young children may find the poems themselves confusing. Additional Purchase. Grades 2-5.

[desirichter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow! The craft involved astounds me. So appropriate for gifted kids, and others as well. I always tend to want to share poems just a couple at a time, and this book is no exception. I wonder about dividing the class in half, letting each side rehearse reading and then coming back together to share the different interpretations. Calls to my inner drama nerd.

[rachelmuegge · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a fun book full of brighly colored illustrations. I love how the book displays two points of view for each fairy tale through clever poems and illustrations. It would be fun for students to read and then try writing their own reversos!

[jcarroll12 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A "reverso" - a new poetic device I am so intrigued by! As the author states, this form is great for showing dual perspectives, and fairy tales are a great genre to experiment with. I particularly loved Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and Sleeping Beauty. How fun it will be to try this poetic form with other stories and novels, and I can also use this book to introduce writing assignments on perspective.