Module 3 - Black and White

Summary

This book essentially tells multiple tales.  First, it tells the story of a boy riding on a train for the first time alone.  While on his journey, the train is stopped by what appears to the young boy to be boulders on the track.  When it is again possible, the train begins its journey again, leading to the train station, which is where the story melds into another story being told in the book of adults waiting at the train station for a delayed train.  The longer the train is delayed, the stranger the adults react in that they begin singing and making clothes and hats out of newspapers.  The story of the adults at the train station is woven into a story about two children waiting at home for their parents.  The two are very surprised when the parents return home from work singing and wearing articles of clothing and hats made of newspaper.  Then, the kids join in with the parents, and the whole family has fun with newspaper.  A tale of what seems to be an attempted train robbery is mixed in with all of this as the "boulders" spotted from the train by the young boy are in fact burglars disguised as Holstein cows.

Bibliography

Macaulay, D.  (1990).  Black and white.  New York, NY:  Houghton Mifflin.

My Impression

I did not like this book at all.  I found it extremely confusing even after reading it several times.  Eventually, in order to make some sense of it, I had to read each tale individually, skipping over pages that did not involve whichever of the stories I was reading.  While I was able to understand it to a degree, I never fully understood what exactly I was supposed to be witnessing.  I did not really understand what inspired the adults to begin making garments out of newspaper.  Also, I would not have known the men disguised as cows were thieves other than they way they dressed.  I thought that this book was trying so hard to be different and quirky that it failed to even be interesting.

To Read or Not to Read:  Skip this book.  It will leave you scratching your head and confused.

Professional Reviews

Horn Book Magazine

"This picture book toys with the reader just as it experiments with the concept of time, simultaneity of events, and the question of one story impinging on another. The author-artist has created an addictive puzzler which can, like a Nintendo game, draw a susceptible audience into an endless exploration of the book's many possibilities. The story — or stories, depending upon one's perspective — comprises four sequences, each consistently placed in a particular quadrant of successive double-page spreads. Each is executed in a distinctive style — ranging from the impressionist quality of "Seeing Things" through the more precisely limned "Problem Parents" and "A Waiting Game" to the dissolving figure-ground images of "Udder Chaos." In the first, a boy observes the changing landscape from the window of a train; in "Problem Parents" two children are amazed by the antics of their usually staid mother and father after commuting from a long day at work; "A Waiting Game" records the endless boredom of standing on a train platform while listening to accounts of unexplained delays; "Udder Chaos" proves that Holstein cows, once released from pasture, are difficult to locate, which may be useful information if you're an escaped con yes, the masked escapee from Why the Chicken Crossed the Road (Houghton) makes an appearance. One solution proposes that all the episodes are connected through the train motif; on the other hand, the author-artist states on the title page that "this book appears to contain a number of stories that do not necessarily occur at the same time." Perhaps there is no one explanation but rather a series of playful allusions and clever delusions which are meant to be enjoyed by the freewheeling and freespirited as an escape from the ordinary." - Mary M. Burns

Burns, M. M. (1990, Sep/Oct).  [Review of the book Black and white, by  D. Macaulay].  Horn Book Magazine, 66(5), 593-594.  Retrieved from http://hbook.com/.

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."
[Book Review of Black and white, by D. Macaulay]. (1990, February 23).  Publisher Weekly, 237(8).  Retrieved from http://www.publisherweekly.com

Library Uses

This book could be used for storytime.  After reading it, the children could make hats out of newspaper.


Image retrieved from:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-and-white-david-macaulay/1000310904?ean=9780618636877