Black and White (Caldecott Medal Book) (Hardcover)

by David Macaulay (Author) "It is the boy's first trip alone..." (more)
Key Phrases: Southern Rail

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Black and White is an interesting title for a book that aims to prove there's no such thing as black and white. But read on and you will see that irony and playful deception are running themes in this multidimensional, nonlinear picture story, which was awarded the 1991 Caldecott Medal. In it, a normal-looking cow contains a robber literally pointing at one of the plot's various possible outcomes, which remain tentative as long as they are formulated by young readers. Seeing new angles and clues every time they open the book, these readers will probably astound adult onlookers with their excitement and ease at navigating the unknown in a literary medium akin to interactive multimedia.

From Publishers Weekly
At first glance, this is a collection of four unrelated stories, each occupying a quarter of every two-page spread, and each a slight enough tale to seem barely worth a book--a boy on a train, parents in a funny mood, a convict's escape and a late commuter train. The magic of Black and White comes not from each story, however, but from the mysterious interactions between them that creates a fifth story. Several motifs linking the tales are immediately apparent, such as trains--real and toy--and newspapers. A second or third reading reveals suggestions of the title theme: Holstein cows, prison uniform stripes. Eventually, the stories begin to merge into a surrealistic tale spanning several levels of reality, e.g.: Are characters in one story traveling on the toy train in another? Answers are never provided--this is not a mystery or puzzle book. Instead, Black and White challenges the reader to use text and pictures in unexpected ways. Although the novelty will wear off quickly for adults, no other writer for adults or children explores this unusual territory the way Macaulay does. All ages.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (April 30, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395521513
• ISBN-13: 978-0395521519
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #476,581 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Example of Why a Picture Is Worth 1000 Words, April 19, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This book clearly deserves more than five stars for its brilliant plot, fascinating design, terrific illustrations, and thought-provoking premise. This book will stretch the imagination and thinking of anyone who sees it, no matter of what age or intellect. And the process of doing the thinking will be enormous good fun.

The book starts with a warning. "This book appears to contain a number of stories that do not necessarily occur at the same time." Then you get hints. It might contain more than one story, or it might be four stories, or then again, four parts of one story. "Careful inspection of both words and pictures is recommended." You will be a story detective, not unlike someone trying to solve a crime after the fact.

Each page is divided into four stories, each of which generally takes up one-fourth of the page. They are located in the same position relative to one another so you can keep the story thread you are following straight. Each has a title.

"Seeing Things" is about a boy taking his first train trip alone. After a long, mysterious delay, he arrives at a large station to be greeted by his parents. His mother sympathizes with his difficult journey.

"Problem Parents" relates how perfectly normal, hard-working parents return from commuting to work one night wearing costumes made out of newspapers. Soon, they have their children costumed this way too.

"A Waiting Game" shows a crowd of adults waiting for the commuter train on an outdoor platform. Pretty soon they get bored, and the fun begins.

"Udder Chaos" starts with a cow licking a man in a convict suit, and shows how cattle provide camouflage for themselves and everything around them.

An occasional element from one of the stories crosses over, and shows up in another story. From these tiny steps, you can begin to unravel the tangled plot.

The book earned the Caldecott Medal for the best illustrated children's book in 1991. I think this is outstandingly illustrated, even for a Caldecott winner. The images carry the story much more than the occasional words do. Without the fascinating visual display of the book's concept, there would be no story here that you could unravel.

Upon rereading, you and your child will grasp additional meaning in the images and words. This will give you a lot to talk and think about. As such, you will welcome this over all of the books where you read the same story in the same way, over ... and ... over ... and ... over ... again.

One of the most difficult things for a child to learn is how subjective perception is. I think this book is terrific for making that point, and helping to create an appreciation for clear communication. I suggest that every family with children purchase and regularly read this book.

After you have enjoyed this book many times, I suggest that you think about where else a partial story is presented. For example, you and your child might go to a train station or airport and watch the people. You could make up stories about what you see. Then, I suggest that you go up and interview the people to hear what they think their story is.

Find the harmony, under the muddied surface of subjective, unfocused perception!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life is not Black & White, September 20, 2004

By	J. Barnett - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was one of the most interesting books I have ever read. When I first read this book, I did not really get the structure of this book and found myself very confused. I went back and looked at the book again and realized that this book was laid out just like our lives are. In our everyday lives everything is truly not black & white (one way or another), we have alot of gray area. This book has four stories going on at once, kind of like real life. This book would be more for an advanced reader.

The interesting thing is that all of the stories are directly related to one of the stories. It really shows the different sides of a situation. Sometimes we may not see all sides of a story, but this book shows us just how one event can effect many more. I would recommend this book to anyone that really wants a reading challenge. The content is very neat and the illustrations are very good also.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Particularly lovely, December 30, 2003

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I enjoyed this book. Not knowing what to expect, my husband and I read each of the four stories individually. After finishing one we'd start over and begin with another. Macauley should be lauded for the different modes of art he employs, if nothing else. The watercolor illustrations of a boy on a train differ nicely from the pen and ink drawings of the two kids and their crazy parents. Most enjoyable, perhaps, is the series of train station commuters, waiting for the train and slowly going mad. Kids will enjoy following the escaped criminal (complete with black mask and black & white striped shirt) as he runs from story to story throughout the book. This would not read especially well to a large group of children, seeing as how the pictures are particularly small and difficult to follow from a distance. Also some of these stories lack words altogether. But individual children will enjoy finding new and different details in each of the four tales. Altogether, a fascinating book.