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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, January 6, 2017

Poetry Friday with a review of Before Morning

I know that children are the ones who are supposed to hope and wish for a snow day, but I have to confess that I hope and wish for them too. There is nothing like taking a day off work to play in the snow with dogs and family members; and to sit toasting toes in front of the fire afterwards. In today's poetry book  we meet a little girl who desperately wants a snow day, and her reason for wanting such a day is even more important that having a day off from school.

Before MorningBefore Morning
Joyce Sidman
Illustrated by Beth Krommes
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, 978-0-547-97917-5
A little girl and her mother arrive home on a cold winter night. Dinner is on the table and all should be well, but the little girl is sad. Soon her mother is going to be leaving for the airport where her plane and crew await her. She is a pilot and her job means that she has to leave home for days at a time.
   The little girl hides her mother’s pilot hat, but has to give it back. Her mother has to go to work and there is nothing that can be done about it. While the little girl sleeps “In the deep woolen dark” that is now freckled with snowflakes, the pilot packs her bags and leaves the house. What the mother does not know is that her daughter has sent a wish up into the night, a wish asking for the snow to come and “Let the air turn to feathers, / the earth turn to sugar.” The little girl wants everything to be “swaddled” in a blanket of snow.
  The hope is that the snow will be heavy enough that “urgent plans founder,” and planes will be grounded so that her mother will be able to come home to her.
   With gorgeous scratchboard art what is rich in textures, and a magical rhyming text that is beautiful in its minimalism, this unique picture book celebrates the power of a child’s wish.

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