Author engages through images, not words
Alicia Wood in Sydney Morning Herald
August 15, 2010

''Words are more black and white'' … Jeannie Baker's new book, Mirror , tells its story of two boys through images. Photo: James Brickwood

Reading is not always about words, Sydney author Jeannie Baker believes. Baker, a popular author on the Premier's Reading Challenge reading list, has launched a new book, Mirror, (Walker Books), which tells its story through images.

 The book depicts two parallel stories: a boy growing up in inner-city Sydney, and a boy living in a remote Moroccan village. ''What I love about doing books without words is that children have to think for themselves. Every child will see something different, whereas words are more black and white,'' Baker says. ''In this way, it is engaging a child's mind.''
Students at all levels of the Premier's Reading Challenge read her work. An Education Department spokeswoman said Mirror would be on the challenge reading list next year.
''The idea is to read both boys' stories simultaneously. What I'm trying to say is that … we are all very similar, no matter where we are from,'' Baker says.
More at SMH.