Welcome to the first of our Children's Book Week reviews by the Central West Libraries team:
Mirror by Jeannie Baker
What a beautiful book ! As you open the front page you notice that there are actually 2 books, side by side ! The story is about two boys and two separate families … one family lives in Australia and the other in Morocco. The books are designed to be read side by side!
As the day begins Jeannie's stunning collages illustrate the differences in food, transport, scenery and shopping facilities. Each boy goes with his dad to buy a carpet/rug and then home again to eat dinner. As night falls each family looks at different things … and strangely enough the Australian family are imagining their carpet is a magic one, taking them to places such as Morocco while the Moroccan family look at a map of the world on their computer.
Jeannie Baker's collages come alive and the detail on each page is extraordinary. The concept is amazing, two countries that are such a contrast ! My favourite pages are the market in Morocco (particularly all the spices for sale) and the skyline of Sydney showing the Anzac Bridge.
I would encourage everyone to read it, pity there is not an odd scratch and sniff patch !
Reviewed by Elizabeth
And Mirror was the joint winner in the CBCA Picture Book of the Year 2011 Awards alongside Hamlet by Nicki Greenberg.