Author: Jeannie Baker
Publisher: Walker Books
(4/5)
There is something unspeakably happy-making about illustrated children’s books that are unapologetically forthright in their social messages. Jeannie Baker’s latest – Mirror – tells what is decidedly one story in two languages, in two places, with two sets of characters who never meet. The book begins in the middle; the text on the left page is in English, and the text on the right page is in Arabic. The reader then turns both pages simultaneously (as she might open a set of French doors) to reveal glimpses into the everyday lives of two families living halfway around the world from each other. On the left, a family in Sydney: they live in the suburbs and shop in the sprawling metropolis (and endure congested traffic to get from the former to the latter), they surf the Web and buy Moroccan rugs. On the right, a family in Morocco: they live in the desert and trade in the market (and endure the heat and bumpy donkey ride to get there), they surf the Web and make Moroccan rugs. It is, of course, the same story; the story of a family living together, loving each other, buying and selling goods, cooking and eating and chatting over the dinner table, and going to bed and waking up the next morning to do it all over again.
Mirror
