The Asian Reporter's
BOOK REVIEWS

From The Asian Reporter, V17, #10 (March 6, 2007), page 15.

Stranger in the Mirror
By Allen Say
Houghton Mifflin, 1995
Hardcover, 32 pages, $16.95

By Josephine Bridges

We’re not exactly sure what’s happened to Sam’s Grandpa, but Sam misses "hearing the raspy voice and the shuffling of slippers." He remembers Grandpa’s waving goodbye. "I don’t want to get old," Sam thinks, but the next morning there’s "a stranger with white hair and a wrinkled face" looking back at him from the mirror in the hall.

Sam’s mother and father think that medical attention is in order. Dr. Chang diagnoses "Idiopathic dermal development." Dr. Bloom suggests, "Wait and see would be the prudent course for now." Dr. Chang sees "no reason why he cannot attend school."

At school, things go from bad to worse. Friends tease him. Teachers stare at him. Then at bedtime his sister asks him if he’s going to move downstairs: "Grandpa’s room’s down there."

When a skateboard comes tumbling through the air just as he’s about to run away from home, Sam forgets his troubles and remembers who he really is. "He kick-flipped and heel-flipped. He did nose-slides and tail-slides." Even when his sister tells him she put Sam’s backpack in his room, and he finds it in Grandpa’s room instead, he recalls how much fun he had skateboarding and thinks: "Who cares what I look like? I’m Sam. Nobody can change that."

Allen Say is no stranger to blending reality and dream, but in this case, it’s reality and nightmare he wants to explore. Sam recognizes that only his appearance has changed. He’s perfectly healthy, still a force to reckon with on a skateboard. But people are treating him differently, and that’s unsettling.

Stranger in the Mirror is a disturbing book, but it’s worth the uneasy feelings. Young readers lucky enough to have older people to guide them through this book can learn a great deal about attitudes toward aging from the conversation this story is bound to elicit. Let’s face it: growing older is one of the things that — if we’re lucky — happens to every one of us. Let’s get used to it.

Fortunately, there’s comic relief in this very serious book. Allen Say’s watercolor painting of medical professionals with their stethoscopes, clipboards, and looks that range from quizzical to affronted, is one of his best ever. "Not so fast, little man," says Ms. Hench as she blocks his entry into her classroom. "How do I know you’re really Sam?" It’s exactly the right action for a teacher to take at a moment like that, and we can’t help but admire her quick thinking while we hope we never find ourselves in her shoes.

On a day when you’re feeling strong and open-minded, give Stranger in the Mirror a try. It could change you for the better.