The Mirror

A young girl named Susan finds an antique hand mirror at her grandmother's house and becomes fascinated by its history. Through the mirror, she begins to learn about another girl who lived in the same town generations ago. The story moves between Susan's present-day experiences and scenes from the past involving the mirror's previous owner. The parallel narratives reveal connections between the two time periods and explore life in different eras of American history. The characters navigate friendships, family relationships, and personal growth as the mirror links their separate worlds. Their individual journeys demonstrate themes of self-discovery, the cyclical nature of time, and how objects can preserve and transmit human stories across generations.

Most readers found The Mirror a solid young adult novel dealing with relationships across generations. Readers appreciated: - The parallel mother-daughter storylines - Historical details of both time periods (1950s and 1980s) - The exploration of family dynamics - Character development of the two main protagonists Common criticisms: - Slow pacing in the first third - Some found the ending predictable - A few readers noted confusion about timeline transitions From review sites: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (678 ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (43 ratings) Sample reader comments: "The connections between the two time periods were thoughtfully done" - Goodreads reviewer "Takes a while to get going but worth sticking with" - Amazon reviewer "Shows how mother-daughter relationships repeat through generations" - BookBrowse reader The book appears most popular with teenage readers and those interested in generational family stories.

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🔷 Mary Stolz wrote over 60 books during her career, receiving multiple awards including two Newbery Honor citations, yet The Mirror was one of her most personal works, drawing from her own experiences with aging and self-reflection. 🔷 The book's themes of aging and self-acceptance were groundbreaking for young adult literature in 1981, when most YA novels focused primarily on romance or adventure rather than introspective character studies. 🔷 The protagonist Susan's relationship with her mirror reflects historical symbolism - mirrors have been used in literature for centuries to represent self-knowledge, vanity, and truth-telling, dating back to ancient myths like Narcissus. 🔷 Author Mary Stolz worked as a fashion copywriter before becoming an author, giving her unique insight into the beauty industry and societal pressures that she wove into The Mirror's narrative. 🔷 The book addresses intergenerational relationships between women at a time when feminist literature was beginning to explore mother-daughter dynamics more deeply in mainstream fiction.