Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Opposites
Wordless Picture Book
For ages 4 and up
Creative Editions, 2014 ISBN: 978-1568462516
Here are two plump little mice, a white one and a brown one. They both start nibbling away at the white pages that they are standing in front of. One nibbles from behind the page and one from in front. They nibble and nibble until they each create a little door. The door the white mouse has made is slightly open, while the brown mouse is pushing his door closed.
When they both open their doors the white mouse sees a tiny little mouse on the other side. The brown mouse sees the bottom half of an enormous mouse on the other side of its door, and the sight is so shocking that the brown mouse falls over in surprise.
The two little mice chew their way through another page to create a second door, and this time the white mouse finds a wintery scene lying beyond. The brown mouse is happy to find a sunbaked beach behind its door and it lies down in the doorway it has created to have a little sunbathing session.
When the two mice chew their way through another page and open another door, the white mouse finds itself in a place that is pitch black. It is so dark in there that all we can see are the whites of the mouse’s eyes. The brown mouse has been lucky enough to find a little lit candle, which it holds up so that it can see, and we therefore can see the mouse as well.
In this unique wordless picture book Monique Felix follows a pair of little mice who chew their way through the pages of a book and have little adventures. Each pair of adventures features a pair of opposites. Thus we see one mice going up while the other is going down. We see a mouse looking inside a house, while its friend is looking at a street scene. In all we see eleven pairs of opposites, many of which are touched with humorous elements.
The three dimensional nature of the artwork in this title is so cunning and novel that children will be drawn to this special book again and again. Adults too will be intrigued by the way in which the mice’s adventures unfold.