The Town with No Mirrors

The Town with No Mirrors

Christina Collins

Sourcebooks, 2023

278 pages

Grades 4-8

Realistic Fiction/Utopian

Zailey has lived her entire life (at least all that she remembers) with her grandmother in Gladder Hill, a town where physical appearance is not recognized in any way. Mirrors, cameras, and images of people in any form are forbidden. Even water must be covered in order to not show a reflection. Zailey has no idea of what she looks like and is very curious, even though it is not allowed. Superficial thoughts are against the rules, yet as she enters adolescence, she finds herself becoming obsessed with them. Zailey begins to sketch and collect the faces of the  townsfolks in a secret notebook that she hides under her mattress. When a neighbor is exiled for possessing a forbidden reflecting spoon, all of the houses are searched. Will them police find her hidden notebook? After a series of events Zailey finds herself in the outside world with absolutely no knowledge of how modern items, such as cellphones, work. Will she be able to survive? And should she chose to return, will Gladder Hill take her back?

This is such an interesting book with a lot of connections to current issues facing young people. In the appearance-obsessed, social media driven culture which is forcing young people into depression and hurtful behaviors, a society where physical appearances do not matter and social media does not exist is appealing. I would have possibly signed up for such an experiment when my kids were in middle school if it existed-and if I could get them to go. As with many utopian societies, Gladder Hill has it's challenges keeping the outside world out and its citizens in line. The person in charge exhibits growth by realizing the flaws in the experiment and that the ability to not be affected by societies physical obsession must come from within. I loved the concept of this book and found obvious connections to Uglies (which is more dystopian and for an older audience) and Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix. Much like Running Out of Time, the concept exceeds the execution, but young readers won't care. The plot goes a bit off the rails, but in an adventurous way, and kids will keep turning pages to see what happens. All is sewn up a bit too neatly, but that is the way in books for young people. I appreciate that the novel is a stand-alone and we don't have to read two more titles to get to a conclusion. Perfect for book discussion, I will recommend this title to young readers.