Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems by Marilyn Singer

Singer, Marilyn. Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems. Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2010.

Lexile Level: NP

The selling tool poster for this book can be found here

Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems is a wonderful picture book of poems focused on many classic fairy tales, such as Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Author Marilyn Singer goes above and beyond, however, by composing a series of poems that can be read both forwards and backwards, resulting in two different poems that tell each fairy tale from different perspectives. This engages the reader with its initial novelty, as well as by giving the reader two ways to interpret each tale.

Learning Activity

For this learning activity, I would like to explore the idea of writing our own “reverso” poem as a class. We would first discuss how each poem, when reversed, uses the same words to describe a different spin on the story. We would then brainstorm ideas for other fairy tales that have two possible perspectives, as well as words we could use to describe those perspectives, in order to find words that can be reversed to form two poems. This would be a challenging but really fun and silly exercise.

Learning Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.5Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.9
Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series)

Goal

Help students understand how a reverse poem uses the same words but with a different order and context to tell a slightly different story

Objective

To compose, as a class, a reverse poem of our own based on another classic fairy tale.

Outcome

Students will gain a greater appreciation of the versatility of poetry as a format for storytelling.