Welcome!

Dear Book Lovers, Welcome! I am delighted that you have found The Through the Looking Glass blog. For over twenty years I reviewed children's literature titles for my online journal, which came out six times a year. Every book review written for that publication can be found on the Through the Looking Glass website (the link is below). I am now moving in a different direction, though the columns that I write are still book-centric. Instead of writing reviews, I'm offering you columns on topics that have been inspired by wonderful books that I have read. I tell you about the books in question, and describe how they have have impacted me. This may sound peculiar to some of you, but the books that I tend to choose are ones that resonate with me on some level. Therefore, when I read the last page and close the covers, I am not quite the same person that I was when first I started reading the book. The shift in my perspective might be miniscule, but it is still there. The books I am looking are both about adult and children's titles. Some of the children's titles will appeal to adults, while others will not. Some of the adult titles will appeal to younger readers, particularly those who are eager to expand their horizons.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Poetry Friday with a review of When I am not Myself

When I was little, I played countless games with my friend Raf where we pretended that we were animals. We both loved animals and read a great deal about them, so we tried to make our pretend animal selves as true to life as possible. We also argued about the animal facts that we knew, and often turned to the school library encyclopedia to settle these arguments.

As they read today's poetry title children will get the chance to image what it would be like to be an animal. Would they still have some of the same feelings and thoughts, or would they be quite different?

When I Am Not MyselfWhen I am not myself
Kathy DeZarn Beynette
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Pomegranate Kids, 2014, 978-0-7649-6673-6
What would it be like if you were not you, and if you were an alligator instead? Or a rabbit?  Or a giraffe? Your world would certainly be different, but you might feel or think many of the things that you feel and think in your life now.
    If you were a zebra you might like your stripes but wish that you could try “checks for a day.” If you were a bear you might “patiently wait / For the day my brother / Will go hibernate.” If you were a kitten you might find yourself sitting in a row and waiting for “someone to love / For someplace to go.”
   In this charming collection of poems the author lets us step inside the bodies of a variety of animals and helps us to see the world through their eyes for a moment or two. Sometimes the thoughts we have as animals are not that different from the ones we have as humans, and sometimes the thoughts are familiar and yet comically or cleverly different because of the nature of the animal in question.

No comments:

Bookmark and Share