Abstract
Reviewed by: Mirror Elizabeth Bush Baker, Jeannie. Mirror; written and illus. by Jeannie Baker. Candlewick, 2010. 40p. ISBN 978-0-7636-4848-0 $18.99 R Gr. 2-4. Clear plenty of space to enjoy this ingeniously devised wordless picture-book exploration of the everyday activities of two families, one Moroccan and one Australian. The volume folds out from the center into two complete books, designed to be perused in tandem, "reading" pictures from left to right in the Australian pages, and right to left in the Moroccan. The opening spread presents each family as night dissolves into morning, and one mother tends her baby and the other says her prayers and works at her loom. The next page turn focuses on morning rituals, with the Australians grabbing a hasty breakfast amid the disarray of a remodeling job, and the Moroccans sharing an extended family meal while preparing to send the father and son off to market. As the Australian father and son take off in their little yellow car through the snarled Sydney traffic, their counterparts head off on their donkey on deserted, winding paths. Each pair makes their way to a commercial center—one to buy building supplies and the other to barter a rug and a lamb for household necessities. By the time each returns home, their stories have intersected: the Moroccans now own a computer that connects them with the wider world, and the Australians are the proud owners of the colorful handloomed rug loomed in the opening Moroccan scene. The titular word "mirror," [End Page 225] with its implication of synchronous activity, may not be the most apt descriptor, since the apparently parallel stories must obviously take place at different times. That in no way diminishes the effectiveness of the presentation, however, which is fascinating to follow. Baker's fabric-collage illustrations are extraordinary in their texture, detail, and often quite elegant composition, inviting viewers to re-explore the settings even after digesting the plot. With title page and introduction in both English and Arabic, this will allow armchair globetrotters to revel in a cross-cultural immersion. Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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