SOLVED. Children's Picture book about an island and two doppelgangers who trade places. Read in 1990s.

[Chelsea]

SOLVED: Sir Baldergog the Great by Ruth Beni

This is a children's book I read in the '90s. Artwork-wise, my hunch is it was a bit older, maybe '70s or '80s. Fair warning- the general plot has major colonialist/racist overtones.

It involved some kind of "explorer" who "discovered" an island already full of people and fell in love with their very different way of life. I remember it being pretty stereotypical island life: relaxed, hammocks, palm trees, tropical fruit, etc. And I remember the houses these people built on the island were very whimsical and colorful.

The most vivid part I remember is illustrations of when the explorer meets one of these people who looks very much like him. I can't quite put this together, but I think the islander was kind of a different species? What I can picture in my head is that the islander is almost a big bird, kind of vulture-looking? The explorer has a black coat and tails, and the birdman has black feathers on his back. The explorer has a big beaked nose and the birdman has an actual beak. The explorer has a bushy white mustache and the birdman has poofy white feathers on his face? Something along those lines. And they're looking at each other and laughing at each other in the illustration I remember.

I think the explorer tells stories about his life to the islander, and the birdman finds it fascinating. They come up with the clever idea to trade places so that the birdman goes back to live the explorer's life (in some English-speaking country, could be US or UK or even AU or something) and the explorer stays with the islanders. And no one knows the difference because they looked so similar.

Any ideas?

[Paige]

OK, so I've never read it, but I immediately thought of Hey, Al.

How many picture books about island paradises full of anthropomorphic birds could there possibly be?

[Rainbowheart]

Chelsea, I see you moved this to the Solved folder.

Sir Baldergog the Great for the link to the book you mentioned.