Reviews for Black and white
Publishers Weekly
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"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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Gr. 2-6, younger for reading aloud. See Focus, p.1546.
Publishers Weekly
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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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book
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Fiction: PB A picture book that toys with the reader as it experiments with the concept of time, simultaneity of events, and the question of one story impinging on another. A free-wheeling and free-spirited escape from the ordinary. Horn Rating: Superior, well above average. Reviewed by: mmb (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Warning that the stories here ""do not necessarily occur at the same time"" and that they may prove to be ""only one story,"" the endlessly inventive Macaulay challenges readers to unravel an intricate puzzle in the form of four stories--simultaneously presented in the four quadrants of each double spread. Even the type styles, as well as the illustrative styles, are different; but alert readers will note common elements--a masked burglar, escaping cows, newspapers, trains--that serve different functions in different stories but that also serve to link them. They are linked, of course, and Macaulay slips in plenty of visual jokes and asides along the way; but even the most persistent puzzlers may conclude that he's been too clever by half. The journey here holds some interest, but the story concealed within the stories is hardly worth the effort. Copyright ŠKirkus Reviews, used with permission.
