The Town With No Mirrors oozes realistic fiction for mglit fans

Bad advertising, collectibles, and social media have one big thing in common; and it’s one that I wish ages 12 and up would realize sooner. If you ignore it, pay no attention to what’s said, or have a more active hobby then you won’t be affected by any of its social collateral. The Town With No Mirrors is mglit, realistic fiction that alludes to characteristics of one of those. It starts with a hook, builds upon it patiently and by the time things come to a crescendo the plot is running like Zola Budd.

 Zailey is a teen girl who lives in a town where there aren’t any mirrors. For the first 25% of the book, I was thinking that there was going to be a major plot twist where it was referencing something else. However, The Town With No Mirrors takes place in the fictional town of Gladder Hill. It’s an area where cameras and mirrors aren’t allowed and everybody is happy, except for some of the teenagers, because this is realistic fiction. The town’s name also rightfully earns heaps of sarcastic comments about its overly optimistic moniker. Superlatives such as “ugly” or “beautiful” aren’t used in their vernacular and people do not speak about the appearance of others.

Zailey does things that are forbidden in Gladder Hill. She draws pictures of people. She keeps a little notebook of her sketches hidden away so that nobody can find them. Her friends all have questions about the outside world too, but her questions are deeper and more personal. There are sketchy memories of her mother, an idyllic house that they used to live in, and a life that existed outside of this place.

The pacing of The Town With No Mirrors is set up for those reluctant realistic fiction readers. There’s an aura of mystery, which will be the chocolate to the realistic peanut butter that mglit readers might avoid. I know this because I’m one of them and I teach those kids who need to; but don’t read books outside of the text that’s required of them. I encounter students that read fantasy or horror from time to time, but for the most part it’s brain drain 101 with a side order of wasted time.

That’s where The Town With No Mirrors can surprise those readers who aren’t expecting a fun time. Zailey is like any teen that they’ll know, except, not only does she not have a social media account or a cell phone, plus there aren’t any mirrors or recording devices where she lives. It’s a strained leap of faith you say to yourself, and from this side of the fence, it is. However, the book is presented from her perspective, so everything makes sense when seen through her eyes. It’s only when she starts to really ask questions and is exposed to the outside world that this upside-down that she lives in could actually occur.

It’s realistic and unbelievable, but could completely happen. This is stranger-than-fiction that you could read about in the paper tomorrow, be shocked that it happened, but then in the very next breath acknowledge that you saw clues about it for years. The Town With No Mirrors is a no-brainer for those mglit fans that already enjoy realistic fiction. However, it’s enjoyable to any reader who wants something refreshing and just left of center. Don’t expect those readers to completely absolve themselves of using technology after they read it, but it might assist them in realizing that it’s not the be-all and end-all.

The Town With No Mirrors is by Christina Collins and is available from Sourcebooks Young Readers.

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