Customer Reviews

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: The Diary of Bess Brennan, The Perkins School for the Blind, 1932 (Dear America Series)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After she is blinded in a sledding accident, twelve-year-old Bess Brennan's life changes forever. Bess would like to hide in her room forever, but her family forces her to face the world, a world that will never be the same for Bess, ever again. For years, Bess has kept a diary, faithfully writing daily entries. Now, Bess's twin sister Elin must write for her instead. Bess's family decides to send her to the Perkins School for the Blind, where she can learn to live in the world without her sight. This was a really fascinating and unique book in the Dear America series. From reading it, I learned what life might be like for a blind girl in 1932, a girl who had sight for the first twelve years of her life, but suddenly and tragically lost it. I highly recommend this book to fans of the series.

This is about 12 year old Bess Brennan. She wasn't blind when she was born but had a sledding accident. Bess hasn't missed a diary entry every since she was seven. Since she can't really do it any more, her sister offered to record her entries for her, her sister even writes a few herself too, but she's not as good at keeping it as Bess was. Did I mention that Bess had a TWIN sister named Elin? Before this happened they used to stand in front of the hall mirror and say"

Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall,
Who is Fairest of Them All?

Bess would say " You Are " and Elin would answer " I Am ".

Bess didn't want to go to the Perkins School, but ended up going anyway. Perkins School for the Blind is were Helen Keler studied for a while... I think she might have been the 6 yr old Bess was talking about. At this school, Bess becomes best friends with Amanda (who has a tiny bit of sight) and Eva, which is good because they share a room. On the weekends she gets to go home because it's not that far... Bess also get's so frustrated with Braile, she thinks that she'll never learn it. During this book, she gains a second chance to be independant. No matter what happens, there is always hope, even if you may not see it at first.

I was into this book that I finished this book in less than 1 week. I could picture everything as I read on. If you are looking for a great intersting book, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall is the one for you.

I rated this book 4 stars, because at first you don't understand the book, but the more you read the more interesting it is. The main characters are: Bess Brennan( a young girl who goes to The Perkins School for The Blind) Elin,(Bess's twin sister), Eva (one of bess's besst friends and also her roommate), and Amanda (another one of Bess's best friends and also another roommate).

These Girls (all except for Ellin because she is not blind)came from all across America to go to the Perkins School for the Blind. The school is in Boston Massachusetts. The school teaches the girls how to read brail, get along with people, and how to take care of themselves. This book is a true story about Bess, Amanda, and Eva trying to get through life being blind.

I would recommend this book to people who like to read about true stories about people.

I was unsure if I wanted to read this book from the school library but when I checked it out and started reading I just couldn't put it down its the best book in the Dear America sires so far.

Bess Brennan was blinded in a sledding accident and is now trying to adjust to live as things are now. Its very difficult adjustment as you'd expect. Bess goes to Perkins School, a school for the blind. A very interesting and good story.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall was wonderful! I really enjoyed this book. I had always wondered what it was like to be blind and this book told me. It is hard to be blind, I found out. The book had good details and had a great plot. I would definately recommend it.

This is a brilliant book about a blind girl. After a sledding accident, docters announce she has lost her sight. She is then sent to Perkins school for the blind. She finds it difficult to adjust, but soon learns many new skills and makes new friends.
This book is moving and shows how important sight is. But Bess stays strong, and with the help of new friends, she learns to deal with what has happened to her.

Mirror, Mirror (Perkins School for the Blind) / 0-439-19446-6

"Mirror, Mirror" is a solid addition to the Dear America series, and with a new kind of fictional diarist - a blind young woman. When Bess' eyesight is lost in a sledding accident, she despairs that she will ever be able to live a normal life. With the urging of her understanding and concerned family, she gains admission to the Perkins School for the Blind, and begins the onerous process of learning how to live independently without sight.

So much of this book is quite fascinating, as Bess describes senses and feelings that would never occur to me as a sighted person. She learns, for instance, to walk down corridors snapping her fingers, listening to the different types echoes as the corridors widen and narrow while she walks. She describes how the most thoughtful teachers automatically say "Hello" and "Goodbye" when entering and leaving rooms, so that the blind students can instantly know who has entered or left. Even the process of dressing herself in the morning has a 'system' - Bess puts her light clothes in a separate drawer from her dark clothes, so that she will always match. Bess also tells us, matter-of-factly, how poorly many of the blind students are treated by the outside world; the girls who are taken out of school by fathers who don't care if they learn to be independent or not, the boys who are not allowed to socialize with the girls because the school officials fear that blind couples will result in blind babies.

As good as this book is, it does have some very minor flaws. The conceit of this diary is a bit jarring - Bess cannot write her diary, so her twin sister writes it for her. This works well enough, but is a bit disconcerting when we read, "I felt that Elin was jealous today," and we realize that even though it is Bess speaking, it is Elin recording and it would be slightly unnatural for her to just write this down as such. I tried working this out in my own mind, and it feels like the two would talk about it instead, and have a nice discussion, but they apparently do not because no such discussion gets recorded in the diary, as in "I thought Elin was jealous today, but she assures me now that she was not," or something similar. It's a small point, but it did break up the reading frequently.

"Mirror, Mirror" is also very short; I was disappointed in the length of this diary, as I really wanted to learn more, and I wanted to wrap up the storyline where Bess was not comfortable being friends with her old sighted companions anymore, but that storyline was never resolved, which was disappointing.

Most irritating of all, the author shamelessly uses "Mirror, Mirror" as a platform to pitch his other Dear America book, "When Will This Cruel War Be Over?" which I have reviewed elsewhere as being a very poor novel, in my opinion. I was deeply displeased to see it 'marketed' in this book - Bess' teacher is the 'author' of a play by the same name, and Bess gets the part of 'Cousin Rachel' in the book, and much is written about how fabulously fabulous "When Will This Cruel War" is. There are dozens of pages devoted to laudations of this other book, and it feels like a very cheap and childish way to self-promote oneself. I am grateful that the many other Dear America authors have had the self-restraint to keep their greed from interfering with the story at hand - every moment spent talking about the awesomeness of the other book is a moment NOT spent talking about Bess and the Perkins School for the Blind.

I enjoyed the fascinating and valuable look at being blind in the 1930's, when Braille was first being widely accepted and schools for the blind in America were first being really taken seriously. However, I did not like the self-promotion on the part of the author, and did not like how short the story was. I recommend trying to find it at a discount price, if possible.

~ Ana Mardoll

Just like all other Dear America books, this was a wonderful view into the life of a young American girl in a situation that is not common in children's literature. many books are written about wartime periods or significant events such as the dust bowl or Oregon trail, but how often do you get to read something about the lives of the Blind in the early 20th century? This is an excellent and educational book for young readers.