A review for Suzy Lee's MIRROR-Consequence, joy, shame, trepidation, friendship all wrapped up without words.

Suzy Lee’s Mirror is as the dust jacket suggests, “a visual tour de force.”  But, I am going to add, emotional tour de force to the accolades. 

“Reading it” as an adult I am immediately taken back to one of my favorite Margaret Attwood poem- Tricks with Mirrors.  Like the poem, this story is a layer upon layer of complexities.  Mirror, in true Suzy Lee fashion, is told with such a soft and “simple” touch.  Once more she keeps colors to a minimum going for a charcoal black and uses shading and the white of the page to tell the story.  In Mirror, the accent color is… YELLOW!

I swear Suzy Lee knows my daughter.  This book is so my Mia.  Down to the peeking out from between the fingers with mock fear, and of course the dancing.  Though I do wonder whether Mia would ever see her shadow/reflection as anything other than her.  Unlike my daughter, the girl in Mirror sees the reflection as a new friend.  

This concept, playing with her reflection it takes us the reader and the girl to the first of the most stunningly simple and heart stopping page spreads.  I won’t tell you what it is.

There are however, in my opinion, two shockingly brilliant page turns in this book.  The one in the middle I just mentioned and one at the end.  

I am still in a quiet place with THAT page spread. A quiet place filled with awe and wonder.  Suzy just took the reader THERE.  The fact that she did it almost takes away from the beautiful visual of how THERE appears.  

One of the things I love so much about a Suzy Lee book is ability to illustrate, incorporate and fold the reader into universal emotions.  She gets kids.  She gets humans.  But more importantly she really gets those quiet moments that change a person.

Mirror is my new favorite Picture Book. I LOVE Shadow. I LOVE Lines, I LOVE Wave. I love many other authors books, but right now Mirror is the Queen in my world.  Thank you! Thank you, Suzy Lee!