David Macaulay

Four separate stories - or are they? - unfold on the pages of author/illustrator David Macaulay's Caldecott Medal-winning picture-book, Black and White. Each tale - a boy traveling cross-country on the train, looking forward to being reunited with his parents; a girl who usually finds her parents predictable, until they come home one day clothed in newspapers, singing songs; a group of commuters waiting for a delayed train; a herd of Holstein cows on the loose, either being stolen by some show more robbers, or not - takes up one quarter of every two-page spread. Whether read in isolation from one another, or all together (I tried both approaches, myself), it soon becomes clear that they are interrelated in complex ways, and that matters are not, whatever the title might say, black and white...

Although I notice that online reviews of this one are fairly divided, I myself found Black and White to be an immensely engaging, entertaining, and thought-provoking picture-book. It definitely requires a little more work, on the part of the reader, and isn't the sort of book that you can rush through, but the more time you spend with it, the more you are rewarded. The stories here are amusing, both in their own right - I particularly enjoyed the girl's ruminations on her parents - and in conjunction with one another, and they invite the reader to get involved in the storytelling itself, in piecing together the ways that each discrete strand is part of the whole. The artwork, as one would expect from a Caldecott Medal-winning title, is amazing, with each of the four tales being illustrated in a different style. Recommended to anyone looking for picture-books with a more complex narrative, as well as to David Macaulay fans. show less

An intriguing book that spans a wide age range for interest. Macaulay writes and illustrates a story about a futuristic fictional archaeology team exploring an ancient building, only the ancient building is a motel. What is most fun about the book is seeing how objects that are familiar to the reader might be described by someone without an understanding of their purpose. A fantastic book to enjoy on its own, but it's also a great one for teaching presuppositions, limited knowledge, the show more limits of history (and record keeping), and so on. show less

A gentle poke at American culture of the mid twentieth century, and a hysterical take down of the whole academic history, archeology and cultural anthropology methods used to analyze and interpret discoveries. Lot's of subtle digs here - the lost motel from the country of Usa is the "Toot 'n' C'mon" and the discoverer is Howard Carter ... interstate highways become Nazca lines for aliens and desk lamps statues of the great god Watt. The illustrations are wonderful and the humor is very dark show more and very dry. Read it and laugh til you cry. show less

Once you get past the absurd but brilliant premise that an Arabian prince purchased the Empire State Building just to have it moved overseas, David Macaulay's illustrated account of the "unbuilding" of the iconic skyscraper is a joy. It's clear and intelligent about the various devices and methods used for taking a building apart, and in turn the reader learns about how a building goes together. After all, the depiction of the unbuilding is from top to bottom, mirroring the way the building show more went up. But the book is more than a way of describing construction; it's also a fable about the modern world, with an ending even more bizarre than the book's premise. show less