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May 10, 2012 by Travis Jonker

Cover Curiosity: On Balki and Book Covers

May 10, 2012 by Travis Jonker   6 comments

There are two people I’ve been told I look like.

1. Bronson Pinchot

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Aw, yeah – that’s right. Pinchot is best known as Balki from the late 80s/early 90s sitcom Perfect Strangers. While most people would not take this as a particularly flattering comparison, I used to watch that show like it was going out of style (which I suppose was accurate, as it did) and have fully embraced the resemblance.

2. Hicham El Guerrouj

I love this comparison, because my students alerted me to it thanks to the Guinness Book of Records. El Guerrouj is a Moroccan distance runner and current world record holder for the mile.

Thanks to the sharp eye of Owen Grey, I now know that there is one book that Inside Out and Back Again looks like.

Here it is…

Side by side:

The tree, the silhouettes, even the award placement – we have a match.

Click here for more Cover Curiosities.

Filed under: Cover Curiosity, Covers

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Owen Gray says

    May 10, 2012 at 9:31 am

    Travis,
    I think it’s good to embrace our look-a-likes. I was once compared to Ron Livingston from Office Space. Though I found the comparison somewhat misplaced, I fully embraced it and spent the entire next year with “D*** It Feels Good To Be a Gangster” stuck in my head (the accuracy of this statement is questionable). I wonder if there’s higher praise than a Pinchot comparison, though :-). Glad you’ve decided to own it.

    • Travis says

      May 10, 2012 at 9:35 am

      Who doesn’t love a good look-like? The weirder the better, I say. Thanks again for spotting these covers.

  2. Tanya says

    May 10, 2012 at 9:57 am

    The paperback version of Sharon Creech’s “Walk Two Moons” just got a new cover that always makes me look twice when I see it on the shelf: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/walk-two-moons-sharon-creech/1100559656

    Not exactly like “Inside Out,” but close enough…

    Thanks for the look-alikes. Love them.

    • Travis says

      May 10, 2012 at 10:00 am

      I hadn’t seen that yet!

  3. Vicki Kouchnerkavich says

    May 10, 2012 at 1:12 pm

    I just saw Bronson Pinchot on HGTV (I think) where he has a show called the “Bronson Pinchot Project”. He is very much into architecture and rehabbing historic homes back to their original state.

    • Travis says

      May 10, 2012 at 1:15 pm

      Hey Vicki – good to get the update!

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