No+Mirrors+In+My+Nana's+House

Book Review by Jessica Dreher

//No Mirrors In My Nana’s House// Written by Ysaye M. Barnwell Paintings by Synthia Saint James Publisher Harcourt Brace & Company Price: $6.00 ISBN:0-15-201825-5


 * Summary:** This book is told by a little girl. The book is about growing up in her Nana’s house where there were no mirrors. Since there were no mirrors in her Nana’s house she never noticed her little imperfections, she saw the beauty of everything and herself in her Nana’s eyes, who thought she was perfect. Since there were no mirrors and she had no reason to feel bad about herself or worry about the way she looked, the world was a very beautiful place. Since she was not caught up in her own appearance she was able to experience and appreciate the little things in life, like the cracks on the walls.


 * Review:** I really like this book as I think it gives a very powerful message that young people today really need to learn. In society today everyone is so caught up in how they look or how they are dressing that they might miss out on the important little things in life. This book teaches children not to worry so much about what you see in the mirror but to spend your time appreciating the little things in life and if you really want to see how beautiful you are look into your mom or another loved ones eyes, because there you will see how perfect you really are.


 * Analysis of Literary Elements:** One thing that really stood out to me in this book was that all of the illustrations in the book were originally done with acrylic paint on canvas. The use of repetition in this book helped to make the message more powerful to the reader, the phrase “Cause the beauty in everything was in her eyes like the rising of the sun” was repeated many times throughout the story. The message of this story is also a very powerful one and Barnwell does a very good job of pointing out something many people these days are missing.


 * Author Biography:** Ysaye M. Barnwell was born and grew up in New York and now lives in Washington, DC. She studied the violin for 15 years and studied music throughout high school. For over a decade Barnwell was a professor at the College of Dentistry at Howard University. Besides being an author, Barnwell is also a composer, musician, singer, teacher, researcher, author, and actress.