Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths

Following up on her two previous collections of "Reverso" poetry, Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse and Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems, author Marilyn Singer here delivers a third exploration of the form, retelling some of the classical myths of ancient Greece from differing perspectives. Read one way, the lines in these poems tell one story, but read in the opposite direction, they give another version of the tale. Theseus and Ariadne, Melanion and Atalanta, King Midas and his daughter, each one gives their version of their story, before their counterpart's take is revealed when ones reads in reverse.

As with its two predecessors, I found the poems in Echo Echo clever and creative, but also sometimes a little show more unsatisfactory, in their own right. I like the idea, both of the form itself, and of retelling famous stories in that form, but sometimes the actual poems fail to impress. That said, as someone with an interest in classical mythology, I did find them enjoyable as a storytelling vehicle, and thought that the accompanying artwork by Josée Masse, who also provided the illustrations for Mirror Mirror and Follow Follow, was colorful and engaging, building on the duality of the text in interesting ways. Recommended to anyone who enjoyed Singer and Masse's previous forays together, as well as to young readers looking for something a little different, in the way of retellings of Greek myths. show less

Back at ALA Midwinter Boston 2015, the Penguin gals spoke about this book during their Book Buzz session. I was hooked. Aside from the Greek myth angle this is such a clever way to tell stories. I very much recommend if you are reading this aloud that you offer sheets with the poems on it, you have to see how the lines and punctuation and pace change from side to side.

The illustrations are gorgeous - like the words they are reverse of each other (in the Hades/Persephone you see the sadness and happiness of their viewpoints for instance) and the myths chosen good fit. Not just very well known myths like Pandora, Persephone and Orpheus, but also Melanion & Atalanta, and Bellerophon & Pegasus.

To have this sort of imagination and agility of show more mind makes me jealous. This is a level of reading and writing comprehension that I wish we saw more often in fun ways like this. It makes a higher concept poetry idea interesting to a younger generation who wouldn't always been exposed to it. show less

Typically a book of poems written for children feel very surface level and makes getting through the book is a drudgery. Echo Echo, a book of reverse poems about two perspectives around Greek myths, is captivating and kept me reading poem after poem. The beauty behind these poems, written by Marilyn Singer, is that instead of traditional mythology books that tell the stories from an outside perspective is that these reverso poems tell the stories from two character perspectives. This interesting approach gives the reader a whole new insight to these myths. This would be a wonderful companion text to a tradition retelling of Greek Mythology as well as a very engaging and enjoyable way to introduce children to poetry with the lesson that show more poetry is interesting and fun. show less

Author Marilyn Singer retells some classic tales from Greek mythology through an original poetic form. Called "reverso poetry," each poem can be read either from top to bottom or from bottom to top, and a different meaning can come from either. Both versions of the same poem face each other on the same page. A summary of each myth accompanies the poems on the bottom of the page, along with illustrations of the characters that reflect the "mirroring" theme of the book.

Fans of Greek Mythology will enjoy this clever mash up of Greek myths and poetry. Each myth is told from two different point of views. When the poem is read from top to bottom it shares one perspective. When the same poem is read in reverse, the same words take on a different meaning and provide the other side of the story. The bottom of each page gives more detail for background on each myth. The accompanying illustration are beautiful and work to give both sides of the story thru pictures. I think this would be a lot of fun to read with students.

This book is really impressive. The level of craft that went into composing poems that have a completely different take on the same concept when revered is amazing. The author makes great use of punctuation in the flipping of poems as well. This could be used as part of a lesson on how punctuation can alter meaning.

Each poem offers an account of an ancient myth, but completely changes context when the lines are presented in reverse order. The accompanying images reinforce this by presenting mirrored postures and objects, but in ancient or modern representations. The poems provide an interesting social commentary about past ideas versus present.