Black and White by David Macaulay
My Opinion: The Most Creative Of The Caldecotts
Black and White is an interesting title for a book that aims to prove theres
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
plots 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.
Personal Review: Black and White by David Macaulay
David Macaulay is known for his architectural books: Pyramid, Castle, and
City: a Story of Roman Planning and Construction and their accompanying
videos. However, this Caldecott winner is a demonstration of that soaring
Macaulay imagination!

Macaulay posts this warning right on the title page: "This book appears to
contain a number of stories that do not necessarily occur at the same time.
Then again, it may contain only one story. In any event, careful inspection
of both words and pictures is recommended."
I'll say this at the beginning: As a children's librarian, I would never read or
show this to a class. There is no way to explain this complicated,
interconnected book of four stories that run into and out of each other.
Here is how they look. There are four stories on the two adjoining pages
with two stories per page. Each story has predominant colors of blue,
green, brown, and black and white. Colors and patterns spill and slip from
one story to the next, but the thrust of the story is done in black and white.
It must be noted that Macaulay is NOT saying that everything is black and
white. Oh no! If anything he is saying that everything is NOT black and
white, but he uses black and white, both words and pictures, to say it.
What I just wrote in that last sentence gives a sense of the story. It is
brilliantly creative! I had a special story time with some gifted students last
year, second graders. They had so much fun with this book. I had to get
them started on "reading" the pictures (this is a picture book with narrative
on each story block), but once they caught on, they rip-roared with the
story!!
Remember the admonition to stay in the lines and not think outside the
box. David Macaulay failed that class because he both colors outside the
lines--literally--and his characters get outside their cartoon boxes and into
each other's boxes. The story is one big paean to imagination, creativity,
whimsy, flight of fancy, freedom to explore, and freedom to see the Big
Picture.
Wow, this is one great book. Every child should own it! I certainly do!
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