[.ca] Look Alikes: The More You Look the More You See (ISBN 0316713481)

From Amazon.com:
"Come along! Jump aboard! Grab hold of my hand. / We're crossing the border into Look-Alike Land." So invites the opening lines of Joan Steiner's Look-Alikes, a three-dimensional miniature metropolis that's meticulously, ingeniously crafted out of everyday objects from mousetraps to milk bones. At first glance, a fancy hotel lobby seems just that, but take a closer look and you'll see a sofa made of gloves. In a sunny street scene, a building façade is laden with crackers, crayons form fence posts, and the tree is shaded by a stalk of broccoli. Children and adults alike will love poring over each picture, most of which contain more than 100 objects cleverly arranged to delight and deceive. Kids will easily identify many household objects, and the ones they may not recognize--a hosiery garter or flour sifter, for example--they'll learn from either the guide in the back or from a helpful parent. Good humor, a keen eye, and hours of hard work went into this visual marvel, which should be equally captivating for artists and I Spy fans. (Ages 5 to 105) --Karin Snelson

Original:
We are lucky enough to own a signed first edition of this spectacular book of 11 photographs, each one more artistic than the last. The Barnard graduate author, a self-taught artist, created a deft and clever craft that enchants young and old alike. Each of her two-page spreads presents a quaint scene fashioned entirely from everyday objects. The result is one of the most original children's books I have ever seen. The book opens with a steam engine made from a coffeepot and four train cars made from a briefcase, cardboard box, pocketbook and six pack box. They ride on a track fashioned of screwdrivers and TV antenna. The decorative details prove equally delightful. The engine's wheels are made of cap guns, rolls of film, batteries, ballpoint pen tops, toy handcuffs and wristwatch and compass faces. The train chugs forward with cotton steam pouring from a thread spool smokestack, and its toy truck, harmonica and nail clipper cowcatcher at the fore. A train station (the next stop) is built of fever thermometers, disposable razors, paint brushes, measuring tape, tennis rackets, silverware holders, an egg slicer and a vegetable steamer. The other scenes include a city-scape, general store, park and zoo, amusement park, sweet shop, hotel and circus. You get the picture. For anyone who can't figure out what's what, the author includes a seven-page appendix describing the type and number of trinkets with which she filled each scene. This book provides endless fun. Alyssa A. Lappen

Endlessly interesting for kids and adults alike!:
Joan Steiner's "Look-Alikes" is endlessly interesting for kids and adults alike. This self-taught artist employs everyday items--tea bags, Fig Newtons, miniature hair combs, matches, tissues, strips of licorice, graham crackers, torn-up sponges, pencils, and so much more--to create the most astonishingly lifelike scenes. You can see everything from a port city with boats arriving to a soda shop to a candy store to a classroom, each filled to brimming with trinkets and everyday articles of every kind, each employed as something other than what it really is (Fig Newtons as seat cushions, for example). The result is utterly fascinating. You will spend hours looking through the book--you may even, as I have, try to hide it from your kids so YOU can finish looking at it! Highly recommended.

Beware! Do not buy if you don't have a few hours to spend!:
Look-Alikes and Look-Alikes Jr. were show-stoppers at my house this Christmas. Poring over the pictures is an absolutely great activity that everyone, all ages, can join. The only problem we had is that there wasn't room for everyone to look at the book at the same time. Something she doesn't say in the book but does reveal on the CD-Rom: these are photographs of actual dioramas, not photo- or Photoshop-collages. Amazing!!

Bait and Switch:
Beware, all the pictures in this book have already been published in different cover, an earlier edition. If you think it is a new book of Steiner's work, it isn't, so don't get suckered.

A treat for your eyes and your child's brain:
I wish this book had been around when I was young--I would have sat looking at it for hours. The illustrations are games for the eye and the mind. "Look, the wheels are doughnuts!" "Oh, they made teabags into windowshades!" The pictures tease the child into looking further and further, while the adult marvels at the patience and ingenuity of the author. If you have ever been fascinated by miniatures or dollhouses or train model layouts, you will love these books.