Look-alikes /

In a tiny box in a toy tree house in a larger tree house on a small planet in the middle of space, two look-alikes for Rudy and Buster, a boy and his monkey, fall into (or out of) a fantastic journey. Is this inner or outer space? Are the adventures part of a larger adventure that is part of a larger adventure? The optical illusions of M. C. Escher combine with the computer's recursive principles as Drescher's unique linear images convey this unusual tale.

Gr 2-4Rudy and his monkey Buster ``live on an island on a small green plan et in the middle of space.'' In their se cret treehouse are two tiny ``dolls'' that look exactly like them. The look-alikes go into their identical secret treehouse, and while Rudy and Buster watch through a tiny window, the look-alikes have a series of adventures with a fish- bird, a two-faced monster with foun tain-pen feet and other strange crea tures. The look-alikes return, Rudy and Buster put them back in the ``warm and cozy'' toy chest and return home to their parents. Drescher's scrawly full- color illustrations, with many frenetic scribbles within and without the bor ders, are filled with activity. The chang ing perspectives and busyness of the pictures, the Escher-esque stairway, the splashes and doodles and stick fig ures create a sensation of chaos and confusion. The text is spare, descrip tive and unremarkable; one sentence or phrase per large page. The book seems to be trying for a combination of hu mor, scariness and novelty, but the ef fect is merely bizarre. If the point is that we are all small creatures being watched and manipulated by larger ones as we tumble through life battered by absurdity, it will be lost on the picture book audience.Susan Pa tron, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.