A pacifier becomes a bathroom light? Towels become rolling fields? A Tool box becomes a barn? What is this wackiness all about...

These are examples of how Joan Stiener - with the photography of Thomas Lindley - transforms over 700 ordinary household objects into masterful scenes in her Look-Alikes series of books. The Look Alikes books are described as picture puzzle books in which readers are challenged to find all of the different look-alikes in each image. Look-Alikes Jr. is a little simpler, bigger and bolder than it’s predecessor making it great for younger children but still fun for older children and adults.

So what is a Look Alike?
The premise of this book is building a scene - such as a child’s bedroom (scene #5) - using common everyday items. This is pretty much any object you can think of. For example, in said bedroom scene, the bed is made from alphabet blocks, crayons for each post, spiral noodles and combs for the head and foot boards. The floor is made from corkboard and the stand for the globe (which is a marble) is a snap. Miniature items are used to complete the scenes, such as toy cars in the bedroom as - you guessed it - toys. (These are not considered look-alikes when counting objects.) It is amazing to see how different items are put together to create a scene. For many it is easy to spot and name the original object. Others look very closely like the real thing, such as the bus in scene 6. And others are very sublte such as a paperclip holder for a ticket stand.

Look Alikes Jr.
In this book readers will find eleven vibrant scenes on a two-page spread, each large enough for younger readers to easily search. In addition to the great pictures, Stiener also includes a short rhyming sentences that somewhat describes the scene. I'd visit this farm if I had a chance. The farmer's field looks like CORDUROY PANTS Personally, I think these could have been improved as they are a little dry, but they are cute. My copy of this book, which I purchased many years ago, has a house scene covering the front and back. (Newer versions depict the space scene as shown in the picture above.)

The end of the book includes resources such as play instructions, an extra challenge (what one item is in all scenes), and a listing of all the look-alikes in each scene.

This book is recommended for children age 2-10. Younger children will enjoy the pictures and learning about different objects. Older children will feel challenged to find all the different items and possibly create their own pictures. When my son found this on his shelf, he took some time looking at the pictures it but he doesn't get it yet. As an adult, every time I seen this, I marvel at how the creators have put together the scenes. I spend quite a bit of time looking through the pages to find the various objects.

The review of this fun book was inspired by the Kingfish"Let's Go Database Diving" write-off

Recommended: Yes