Without a word of a lie - I opened the FIRST PAGES of Mirror and my body was awash with goosebumps and tears sprang to my eyes.
This incredible book by artist Jeannie Baker follows a typical day in the life of two young boys - one in Morocco and one in Australia. The book is printed so that it opens from the centre and out to the sides, so two pages are read side-by-side.
As each child wakes and begins their day, Western readers will nod in familiar appreciation at the everyday rituals of the Sydney family - the crawling into bed for a cuddle and warm-up with mum. Eating breakfast around a dining table with the typical family unit - mum, dad and two kids. Feeding baby in the highchair. The car ride through the city to the hardware store for supplies to finish off the new fireplace.
Western readers will also marvel at the far more unfamiliar rituals of a family living in the desert. Collecting eggs. Milking the cow for breakfast. Sliding bread into a mounded earth stove. Eating breakfast on the floor around a tiny table with a tin tea tray with grandparents. Packing the donkey for a trip to the market, across mountains and through desert passes.
The two parallel stories of this book are silent. There are no words - just incredible illustrations which the author made from a collage-like process where she constructed images layer by layer using paper, fabric, wool, tin, plastics, clay and even natural materials like earth, plants, sand and earth.
And there is no need for words. As eyes scan the illustrious detail of the collages, we see and understand much - but most especially the heart-melting link between the two families... the Moroccan father at the market selling a lamb and a beautiful woven carpet to a carpet seller. The father and son in Sydney who espy a magic carpet shop on the way home from the hardware store and buy a carpet to lay in front of their newly finished fireplace.
Yes, it turns out to be the very same carpet.
Moving, evocative, heart-expanding, enlightening, open-minded, fascinating, serendipitous, educational - this is what books are all about. I can't help but weep every time I travel through Mirror - and I can't even really explain why. The story is not sad. It's not heart-breaking. Yet I feel unbelievably moved every time I devour its pages.
But then, sometimes we only need to feel. We don't need to understand why. And beyond the sheer beauty of its story and pictures, the gift of feeling is truly Mirror's greatest achievement.
Title: Mirror
Author: Jeannie Baker
Illustrator: Jeannie Baker
Publisher: Walker Books, $39.95 RRP
Publication Date: 1 August 2010
Format: Hard cover
ISBN: 9781406309140
For ages: 2+
Type: Picture book like no other
Teacher's Notes
See Susan Whelan's post on her amazing Mirror exhibition experience in Sydney - here.
One of the things I admire most about Jeannie Baker's books in general is that you notice something new each time you read them. The attention to detail is so incredible that there is always something new to discover.
ReplyDeleteIn Mirror, it isn't just new details, but new reflections and parrallels between the two young boys' lives that you discover with each new reading.
It is such a wonderful experience to read a book that gives so much to readers of all ages.