All Mirrors Are Magic Mirrors: Reflections on Pictures Found in Children's Books (review)

A small but well-made paperback; little more, as the subtitle suggests, than an extended meditation on selected illustrations. Among the topics on which the author "reflects," briefly or at some length: the relations between illustrator and audience, and between illustration and text; the special subgenres of faerie, animal-illustration, and "domestic happiness." In an unusual and provocative chapter, Poltarnees discusses two cases of a failure of sympathy between artist and text, and two cases of successful illustrations by the same artists (Rackham and Greenaway) for different texts. Heavy paper printed in sepia makes the many line illustrations particularly attractive, while 13 full-color reproductions are tipped in.