Two Families. Two Cultures. One Very Unique Book.

Read This Terrific Tale of Two Very Different Places

Debbie Glade reviews today’s pick.

Mirror ($18.99, Candlewick, preschool – grade 4) while not brand new, is one of the most unique books I’ve ever seen. Yes, I said, “seen.” Award-winning illustrator and collage artist, Jeannie Baker came up with the idea to compare two very different places in the world – Sydney, Australia and The Valley of the Roses in Southern Morocco – using most extraordinary visual means.

Open up the book and you will discover two books on opposite sides. One book opens to the left, while the other opens to the right. The idea is to turn the pages in each book together to compare what the family is doing in Australia with what the family is doing in Morocco (thus the title of the book, Mirror).

Each side of the book starts with words in the languages appropriate to the places – English for Australia and Arabic for Morocco. But the rest of the learning is all visual, though you will not find the usual illustrations you are used to seeing in most children’s books; rather these are photographs of Jeannie Baker’s impressive collages.

She starts out with illustrations and the builds collages on wooden boards, using materials such as earth, sand, clay, paint, fabric, wool, vegetation, paper and plastic. It is apparent that Ms. Baker spent a great deal of time and effort in making the collages for this very special book.

I like any story that effectively teaches children about cultures and geography, and Mirror does just that in a most original way.