Stranger in the Mirror

by Allen Say (Illustrator)

Overview

Overnight, Martin has changed. His parents take him to one doctor after another, only to be told there is nothing wrong with their son. At school, his classmates will not play with him. At home his family tries to treat him as if he were the same child. But things are now different. Martin has grown very old in the space of one day. His world will never be the same again. "This haunting story exposes the agony caused by American attitudes towards aging and differences." -- School Library Journal, starred review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547347325
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/26/1998
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	7 MB
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Allen Say was born in Yokohama, Japan, in 1937. He dreamed of becoming a cartoonist from the age of six, and, at age twelve, apprenticed himself to his favorite cartoonist, Noro Shinpei. For the next four years, Say learned to draw and paint under the direction of Noro, who has remained Say's mentor. Say illustrated his first children's book—published in 1972—in a photo studio between shooting assignments. For years, Say continued writing and illustrating children's books on a part-time basis. But in 1987, while illustrating THE BOY OF THE THREE-YEAR NAP (Caldecott Honor Medal), he recaptured the joy he had known as a boy working in his master's studio. It was then that Say decided to make a full commitment to doing what he loves best: writing and illustrating children's books. Since then, he has written and illustrated many books, including TREE OF CRANES and GRANDFATHER'S JOURNEY, winner of the 1994 Caldecott Medal. He is a full-time writer and illustrator living in Portland, Oregon.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This haunting story exposes the agony caused by American attitudes towards aging and differences." School Library Journal, Starred

Editorial Reviews

Say's exquisite watercolors, realistic and filled with light, show gothic horror in ordinary life. Children will recognize the nightmare: What if I turned into a freak? As always with Say, understatement adds to the intensity. In the first frame, Sam stands in the doorway looking into his home; he's a kid in baggy jeans and T-shirt holding a book bag and a skateboard. He's sad that his grandfather has been taken away. "I don't want to get old," Sam thinks. The next morning he wakes up and sees a stranger in the mirror with a child's body and an old man's wrinkled face and gray hair. His parents are appalled. His little sister insists he's Grandpa. The doctors give his condition a technical label. The kids at school jeer; even teachers stop and stare. Alone and outcast, he plans to run away. There's some plot contrivance--he's saved when he discovers he can still fly and jump on a skateboard ("I'm Sam. Nobody can change that" ), and he wakes up looking like a boy again. But the uneasiness remains. The pictures are nearly all set in doorways, before mirrors, on thresholds. Sam is transformed, and he discovers himself. As in the best monster stories, the clean, well-lit, uptight world holds terror.

Hazel Rochman

"This haunting story exposes the agony caused by American attitudes towards aging and differences." School Library Journal, Starred

From the Publisher