Now this is a book I would really like for my collection

One of Jenna’s favorite places to go is the library.  When we lived in our first house, we would often walk to the library.  But as there is so much congestion between our house and the library where we currently live, we don’t have the option of walking to the library anymore. 

          There have been times when I have gone to the library without Jenna.  Often it will be in search of reference books to answer a question that she has asked either that morning or some time during the week.

          Last year I found myself in the poetry section and had checked out a beautiful book called R is for Rhyme by Judy Young.  Unfortunately Jenna does not share my love for poetry right now.  She gets bored with it.  Even the rhymes which she so often does verbally.  She just doesn’t seem to care for reading or writing in rhyme.

          Between January and April the library puts award nominee books on display and encourages children to read the books and vote for them.  Jenna likes what she reads for the most part.  There have been only a few that are just okay or that she doesn’t like at all.  Last year we read three books that included poetry.  All three were given an “okay” or “I don’t like” vote.

Just recently we found one called Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer, beautifully illustrated by Josee Masse.  The poetry used in this book is called Reverso – which I have never heard of before.  But it is awesome.  Jenna likes it because of the fairy tale themes but doesn’t understand the beauty of just how these verses are written.

This is an example the author uses to explain it:

                             A cat                              Incomplete:

                             without                           A chair

                             a chair:                           without

                             Incomplete.                     a cat.

Except that the verses on every other page are written from a tale’s character’s point of view.  There aren’t an exact number of lines involved.  It is just the order in which it is written – top line becomes bottom and bottom line becomes top and is read with new meaning.  Only the punctuation is changed. 

My favorites are spoken by Jack first and then the giant – or the witch to Hansel and then Gretel to Hansel.  I haven’t tried Reverso myself yet.  It looks quite challenging.  And I thank Marilyn Singer for sharing.