Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths

Lovely book! Students loved it. We are studying poetry and greek mythology... and this is a beautiful tie in. Wonderfully written. Can't say enough.

Marilyn Singer is not one to shy away from a challenge. Apparently, coming up with compelling book concepts and formats keeps her from being bored! Case in point: her challenging "reverso" poetry form which first appeared in her fairy-tale themed collections MIRROR MIRROR (Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2010) and FOLLOW FOLLOW (Dial Books, 2013). For those new to this form, reversos are poems that can be read forwards or backwards to express two sides of one story.The highly-acclaimed form is back for a third time in ECHO ECHO: Reverso Poems about Greek Myths (Dial Books, 2016). Granted, I've loved Greek mythology since I was a child, but to see these familiar stories being told in such a fresh new way is fantastic! But what if you're not a longtime Greek mythology buff like I am? That's okay! You don't need to be since there is a brief summary of each myth across the bottom of every spread.Besides the excellent (starred) reviews ECHO ECHO received from Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal, The New York Times had this to say: "Marilyn Singer’s ingenious ‘reverso’ poems are child-friendly feats of verbal pyrotechnics." I mean, really, need I say more? Probably not... though I will anyway.The Boston Globe described ECHO ECHO as "The perfect supplement or introduction to Pandora, King Midas, Icarus, and the rest of the bunch of fantastically flawed gods, monsters, and mortals…easy and rewarding to read."The Wall Street Journal described the collection as "delightful...vivid, glowing." And speaking of delightful, vivid, and glowing, wait until you see the amazing illustrations by Josée Masse! Once again, just as she did with MIRROR MIRROR and FOLLOW FOLLOW, Josée Masse provides a feast for the eyes. With a palette of Mediterranean-inspired blues, golds, and greens, the stylized illustrations capture the dualistic nature of the reversos in gorgeous detail.

My kids so enjoyed reading this book during our Poetry Tea Time. My almost 7 year old was super into it! The pictures are gorgeous. And I love that a snippet of information is given about the myths with each poem. It goes great with our study of ancient history. Really a great buy!

The poems were great and the pictures also. However, the little two line summary of the Greek Myth underlying the poems was way too little to explain the myth if you were not already familiar with the story. Although, perhaps the two line summary is enough: e.g. - Pandora was a goddess. She got a box she was not to open. She did anyway and released bad stuff. All that was left was hope. Is that enough?

I found the book is wonderfully worded. The pages are beautiful and are great for kids making inferences. I did find it a bit pricey for an Ebook.