Literature for Children and Young Adults by Darling Reads

Singer, Marilyn and Josée Masse.  Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse . New York, NY: Dutton Children’s Books, 2010. Plot Summary Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse is an original poetry compilation written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josee Masse.   Singer turns fairy tales from Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Beauty and the Beast and more in this fun book of poetry.   What makes this poetry really unique is that you can read the verse the classical way and then read it upside down for a new take on the poem. Critical Analysis There are a rhythm and flow to each poem.   Singer does an excellent job choosing the exact words in the precise location so that the poem can be read upside down while keeping the same rhythm.   As the words are carefully selected for these particular poems, there is not a consistency to the rhyme in all of the poems.   The two poems are right next to each other.   You can read from top to bottom and then from bottom to

Bibliography: Wiesner, David.  The three pigs . New York: Clarion Books, 2001. ISBN 0618007016 Plot Summary:   This tale of the three little pigs starts off as the traditional story where the three pigs are going to build their houses out of straw, sticks, and brick.   Then, in a turn of events, the pigs is blown right out of his own story.   He invites the other piggies out and they go on an adventure outside of their story into other stories.   In the twist to this tale, the Wolf meets an unexpected visitor when he comes knocking on the last pig's door. Critical Analysis:   This story is pure imagination.   The tale starts off as normal but the pig is literally blown off the page in a unique way of illustrating the pigs on their journey out of their story into others.   The big bad Wolf goes to eat the pig and the pig is gone!   The visual imagery takes the average two-dimensional cartoon pigs into a more 3-d realistic version of the pigs.   The characters o

Rapunzel as retold   and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky Published 1997 by Dutton Children's Books ISBN 0525456074  (ISBN13: 9780525456070) Plot Summary: A couple discovers they are expecting and they are overjoyed.   The husband wishes to do anything he can to please his wife but she is craving the herb rapunzel that grows behind an evil witches walled garden.   He wants to make his wife happy so he sneaks over the fence to the garden to get the repunzel to satiate his wife.   The evil witch catches the husband as a thief and in return for the wifes and babies life she bargains to keep the baby.   The husband obliges.   The evil witch takes Repunzel when she is born and raises her and locks her in a tower.   A prince hears her singing and fell deeply in love with her.   They get marreid in the tower in secret but as soon as the witch finds out Repunzel is pregnant she banishes her never to see the prince again.   Fate and goodness prevail and Repunzel is reunited w

Just a Minute! A Trickster Tale and Counting Book Yuyi Morales Chronicle Books, 2003 ISBN: 0811837580 Plot Summary: Señor Calavera comes to the door and tries to get Grandma Beetle to leave with him.   Grandma Beetle says “Just a minute!”.   First, she needs to sweep one, uno, house.   Then she needs to boil two, dos, pots of tea.   Every time Señor Calavera tries to persuade Grandma to leave, she has another chore to be done.   As she counts she adds chores to do which turn out to be preparations for her birthday.   Critical Summary This Mexican folklore tale will keep readers of Young and older ages interested.   This Mexican folklore features a strong female lead character that triumphs in the story.   Grandma Beetle gives Señor Calaveras such a good time he decides to come back for her next birthday party. Just A Minute¡ is a great story to read aloud.   It has a rich Mexican culture alive in the pictures and bilingual words used throughout the story.