This book contains four short stories. One about a young boy riding a train and telling what he is seeing outside the train. The second is about children who have parents who can be unpredictable at times. The third story is about people waiting at a train station for a train that doesn't seem to be showing up anytime soon. And the last story is about many cows. In the end the four stories all relate to one another and tell one complete story. ( )

This book is compliled of four short stories that can be a little confusing. It is creative but would be better for an older audience to understand it.

http://www.davidmacaulay.com/

This book is about cows escaping, a little boy on a train, siblings with confusing parents, and passengers awaiting the arrive of a train. This book is four short stories, but can also be read as one.

This book is great for kids because they are forced to look at the stories as one, to try and figure out if they relate to one another. This book will help develop a child's creative thinking. ( )

Publisher's Weekly 2/23/1990

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.)

Personal Review:

The layout and format of the "stories" highlight the unique creativity of the author. Vaguely similar to the modern day graphic novel format, I had a difficult time deciding whether I wanted to entirely read each subplot individually or if I should read them intertwined first. Macaulay forces us (the reader) to use both words and pictures to find meaning in the book. Another clever detail is how the four picture "frames" use varying degrees of detailed realism. If nothing else, it makes you think. ( )

This book is four stories in one that are all interrelated. It will stimulate kids' imaginations and challenge them to study the illustrations, which all have the colors black and white in common.