Exactly Alike

by Evaline Ness

In learning how to tell her four freckle faced brothers apart, Elizabeth learned another lesson about 'give and take'.

Genres: Picture Books

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Evaline Ness was an American commercial artist, illustrator, and author of children's books. As illustrator of picture books she was one of three Caldecott Medal runners-up each year 1964 to 1966 and she won the 1967 Medal for Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine, which she also wrote. She illustrated more than thirty books for young readers and wrote several of her own. She is noted for using a great variety of artistic media and methods.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly Alike (1964) written and illustrated by Eveline Ness is a very odd story about a girl with four brothers who torment her, all of whom look (to her) look exactly alike. Or do they?... Always interesting illustrations by Ness, though I will say one of the brothers looks creepy in how they made his eyes look different. It's a story whose theme is give and take, and what those two words mean exactly. Not the most memorable, but I've come to enjoy Ness' artwork very much, and it's what keeps me coming back for more of her books. My rating - 3/5

[Elevetha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember this book from my childhood, but only the cover and some of the illustrations and none of the story. This time around, legitimately the first thing I noticed about the book (once I opened the cover) is that one of the boys had a creepy completely blue eye. I really didn't think it would be a part of the story, but it turned out to be important. (And no, he's not a changeling.) Though the whole plot of this book begs a very pertinent question; namely, how did Elizabeth (who appears to be roughly 8 or 9, if not older) go the whole of her life without differentiating between her brothers and how did it take her this long to get to the point of "enough is enough I'm fixing this problem"? Anywho, the story carries within it a good moral and is especially good for those of us with forever frustrating but lovable younger brothers.

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites!