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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, November 3, 2017

Poetry Friday with a review of Read! Read! Read!

Here in southern Oregon it is a grey, wet day and I love it. We had a long Indian summer in October and I was feeling thoroughly sick and tired of warm, sunshiny days. Though sunny days can get wearisome, I never, ever get tired of reading books; it is always always a wonderful thing to do. Today I bring you a poetry book that celebrates the written word. It is a delightful title that will appeal to anyone who has a love for reading.

Read, Read, Read!Read! Read! Read!
Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
Illustrated by Ryan O’Rourke
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Wordsong, 2017, 978-1-59078-975-9
Reading is something we do all the time and yet we often forget what a gift words are. When words are strung together to give us a story, they “sing / into your soul / like soothing / summer rain.”
   Many children are eager to learn how to read for themselves and they “pretend” to read at first. They don’t realize that by tracing the letters with their fingers in their pretend reading, they are actually starting the process of learning. Then comes that wonderful day when reading is no longer something that other children do. Finally they too can claim the words that not so long ago were “confusing.”
   Though books are quite the best vehicle for words, they are also wonderful when they appear on cereal boxes, on the sports page, on maps, on road signs, cards, magazines, and other places. In a birthday card one child finds a poem penned by his grandfather; it is a poem that captures, in just a few words, how loved the child is. The child treasures the card and puts it, as always, in a box where “fall leaves / letters / and love” are kept.
   Books of course are the crème de la crème of written materials. They can turn us into explorers, and take us to marvelous places where we witness extraordinary things. They can teach us things, and perhaps best of all they help us to have “an open heart / an open mind;” after all, an “open book / will make you kind” if you are willing to allow its words to work their magic.
   This wonderful poetry title beautifully captures the joys that reading can bring us in our everyday lives. Through the eyes of the child characters that we see on the pages, we are reminded of the fact that books and other written materials really do enrich our lives.

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