Black and White

Black and White is a postmodern picture book and recipient of the 1991 Caldecott Medal. Each two-page spread is divided into four quadrants, with each quadrant presenting a separate story: Seeing Things, Problem Parents, A Waiting Game, and Udder Chaos. While the stories can be read independently, they are interconnected through recurring motifs such as newspapers, trains, and recurring characters, creating an overarching narrative that emerges from the interplay of text and images.

Each story is illustrated in a distinct style using watercolor, pen and ink, or colored ink, and the book experiments with metafictional techniques, juxtaposing text and illustration in ways that encourage readers to explore connections and relationships across the four stories. Macaulay developed the book from sketches created during the 1980s, combining previously unrelated material into a cohesive, visually inventive work.

Black and White is recognized as an influential example of postmodern picture books and has been cited as an inspiration for later works such as The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith.