Mirror, Mirror: Twisted Tales [Hardcover]

Silverman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002 | Age Level: 11 and up

These twisted tales of transformation will draw you into bizarre and mysterious worlds where anything is possible and nothing is as it seems. The reality you thought you knew will slip away, as you lose yourself in a land where only an honest word, a secret, or an act of courage can save you from a frightening fate. Welcome to a world where blossoms have mysterious powers, strange creatures speak the truth, and magic is dangerously real. Step behind the mirror and discover what lies beyondŠ if you dare!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-These 10 fantastic tales plus 1 poem are interesting in concept, but flawed in execution. Most of the stories feature clear metaphors for such serious topics as drug addiction, mental illness, abuse, and anorexia. Reader interest in these themes, plus the tales' consistently adolescent worldview and youthful protagonists, could have added up to an appealing, substantial collection for fantasy or horror fans. Unfortunately, the writing is often so awkward that the stories lose their zing long before their final pages. In "Satanium," the omniscient narrator states of the antihero, "He continued to walk down the street. Well, actually he didn't walk. It was too fast to be called walking. In fact, it was too fast to be called running. It was an almost instantaneous movement from one place to another." "Dying for Franjibelle" even concludes with the ending forbidden by every language-arts teacher since Lewis Carroll made it famous: the protagonist wakes up to find it was all a dream. For a more enjoyable read in this genre, try Bruce Coville's excellent short-story collections Oddly Enough (1994) or Odder Than Ever (1998, both Harcourt).
Beth Wright, Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, VT
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5-8. The 10 stories in this collection are described as "stories of transformation." As each character manages to escape his or her nightmare, readers may wonder whether they have encountered vivid, off-kilter, disturbing fantasies, or whether the stories are just vehicles to explore the effects of homelessness, child abuse, divorce, drugs, or anorexia. Here, sisters experience euphoria, then descend into a world of slavery after sniffing an exotic flower; a girl is literally torn in half by her feuding parents; a middle-class boy finds he has traded bodies with a homeless boy; a wealthy girl with emotionally absent parents wastes away under the spell of a mirror; a man must break a life-crippling spell that compels him to repeat nonsense phrases. The stories are flanked by the intriguing title poem, which could generate much discussion about self-perception, character, or symbolism. Suggest this book to kids who relish offbeat stories and don't require tidy plots, reasonable characters, or comfortable endings. Chris Sherman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Hardcover: 163 pages
• Publisher: Chicken House (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439295939
• ISBN-13: 978-0439295932
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,922,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars listen to this, November 3, 2010

By 

Teacher Lady "Sarah" (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mirror Mirror (Paperback)

The many stories of the book Mirror Mirror I found one very intresting! The secrets of lizard magic. In the story there is a very ill father that has two loving sons and a very smart daughter. The two sons go off into the dangerous desert and run into lots of issues they have to deal with. Both of them found a misterious egg that they thought would be good to cook up and feast but before they got to do anything both of them eventually got captured by bandits. The sister made her journey after the boys had failed. She was smart enough to hatch the egg to see what was inside which helped her it turned out to be a magical lizzard named ixpetz.The magical lizzard helped her save her brothers many times and also lead the way to what they needed. The story was very different and intresting it had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what the daughter and ixpetz did next. The beging was a little slow but when they maid there journey to the devils backbone I was just waiting to see if they were going to find the cure for there ill father. Eventually the story came to a end and ixpetz had to leave them and she had to make it home with her two brothers and back to see her dying father I wont give away the ending but it is not a sad one.

5.0 out of 5 stars this book is awsome!, July 19, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Mirror, Mirror: Twisted Tales (Hardcover)

This book is so good and very scary! I like the one about the girl spliting in half! It rocks! I hope that young adults will like it!

5.0 out of 5 stars Completely Different, May 27, 2004

By 

Tsukasa (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mirror Mirror (Paperback)

Silverman clearly had an astounding sense of fantasy when he wrote this book. Everything was just different from normal fairy tales. But even though each chapter went beyond the imagination, something about each of them clearly had a sense of the real world in it as well. I really suggest that if you're looking for something different, or stories going past the imagination, get this book, and read it.