Fiction - Animals, Children - Fiction & Literature

Black and White

Name: Black and White
Author: David Macaulay
ISBN: 9780618636877

by David Macaulay

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Overview

Four stories are told simultaneously, with each double-page spread divided into quadrants. The stories do not necessarily take place at the same moment in time, but are they really one story? "This work engages another side of the mind. It's a story; it's a puzzle; it's a game . . . Macaulay refuses to be confined by the conventions of the picture book." -- Booklist, starred review

Four brief "stories" about parents, trains, and cows, or is it really all one story? The author recommends careful inspection of words and pictures to both minimize and enhance confusion.

Synopsis

Four stories are told simultaneously, with each double-page spread divided into quadrants. The stories do not necessarily take place at the same moment in time, but are they really one story?

Publishers Weekly

"The magic of Black and White comes not from each [of the four stories], but from the mysterious interactions between them that creates a fifth story," said PW of this Caldecott Medal-winner. Ages 5-8. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, David Macaulay

David Macaulay is an award-winning author and illustrator whose books have sold millions of copies in the United States alone, and his work has been translated into a dozen languages. Macaulay has garnered numerous awards including the Caldecott Medal and Honor Awards, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Christopher Award, an American Institute of Architects Medal, and the Washington Post-Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award. In 2006, he was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, given "to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations." Superb design, magnificent illustrations, and clearly presented information distinguish all of his books. David Macaulay lives with his family in Vermont.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's 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. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

"This work engages another side of the mind. It's a story; it's a puzzle; it's a game . . . Macaulay refuses to be confined by the conventions of the picture book." Booklist, ALA, Starred Review