The second book in the "Brookinette" children's book series (published by Brook), We Look Alike is a book for little ones and older children alike that tells the story—through the drawings of Dutch artist Kinke Kooi—of encounters, friendship, and little mistakes, featuring a cast of snails, flowers, fruits, and ladybugs.
Kinke Kooi felt lonely in what she saw in books, stories and movies: the images never seemed to look like her. That's why she started looking at nature and gardens to find recognition. With pencils and paint, she composes a world whose shapes recall bodies as much as landscapes. Colours sounding like feelings. Often, she wonders how to represent emotions. We Look Alike is a bilingual book in French and English, a conversation between two creatures who see each other but sometimes make mistakes, oopsy. It evokes hope for transformation in stories: encounter, recognition, friendship and little mistakes. "Am I you when you are me?" wonders a choir of flowers, snails, fruits and ladybirds, just to mention a few.
The text was written by Rosanna Puyol Boralevi based on the titles of works and conversations with Kinke Kooi, Marion Vasseur Raluy, and Alice Schneider.
Kinke Kooi (born in 1961 in Leeuwarden, lives and works in Arnhem) is a Dutch artist who creates sensitive, organic works that blend drawing, watercolor, and collage, in which bodies, flowers, and seashells merge in a world that is both sensual and poetic. In her pictorial work, Kinke Kooi magnifies the details of human bodies, animals, and plant elements—all depicted without hierarchy. A staunch feminist, she explores themes such as confinement, hospitality, metamorphosis, and our relationship with nature, prompting reflections on difference and empathy.
Rosanna Puyol Boralevi is a French poet, translator and editor. Co-founder of Brook editions, she publishes translations of texts inspired by feminist and anti-racist struggles, a literature that is both poetic and analytical. She collaborates with artists on exhibitions, video and performance programs, and organizes reading groups, writing and translation workshops, often with friends.
