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Black and White by David Macaulay

Four tales unfold at once—funny, mysterious, and quietly uncanny—until patterns begin to click into place. With bold design and sly visual riddles, Black and White invites readers to spot connections, turn pages back, and watch a puzzle story assemble itself.

Have you read this book? Share what you liked (or didn’t), and we’ll use your answers to recommend your next favorite read!

Love Black and White but not sure what to read next?

These picks are popular with readers who enjoyed this book. Complete a quick Shelf Talk to get recommendations made just for you! Warning: possible spoilers for Black and White below.

In Black and White, did you enjoy ...

... the playful, fourth-wall-breaking page design where stories collide and characters wander between panels?

The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

If the crisscrossing spreads where the masked bandit, the delayed train, the newspaper-clad parents, and the stampeding cows all seem to spill into each other delighted you, you'll love how The Three Pigs literally step out of their story, fold the page like a paper airplane, and wander through other tales. Wiesner uses shifting art styles and panel-breaking hijinks—much like the way the newsprint patterns and visual clues overlap in Black and White—to let you piece together a gleefully meta adventure.

... piecing together interwoven threads from visual clues and parallel storylines?

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

If you loved connecting the dots between the boy’s stranded train, the striped fugitive, and the cows clogging the tracks, The Invention of Hugo Cabret scratches the same itch. Selznick braids Hugo’s secret life in a Paris train station with Isabelle’s mysteries and Georges Méliès’s hidden past, told through silent cinematic image sequences that invite you to infer the story—just like tracking the hidden links across Black and White’s four narratives.

... seeing one event refracted through contrasting perspectives and art styles?

Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne

If the thrill of toggling among the boy on the train, the parents dressed in newspaper, and the crowd in paper hats hooked you, Voices in the Park offers a kindred experience. The same walk in a park unfolds through Charles, Smudge, and their parents—each voice with a distinct tone and visual style—so you can reassemble the full story from overlapping viewpoints, much like aligning Black and White’s converging threads.

... absurd, self-aware humor that plays with familiar stories and the book’s own layout?

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka

If the deadpan gags of cows halting a train and parents parading in newsprint tickled you, Scieszka and Lane Smith’s The Stinky Cheese Man doubles down on that mischievous vibe. Jack the narrator keeps interrupting, the table of contents goes off the rails, and tales like “Little Red Running Shorts” and “The Really Ugly Duckling” spoof expectations—the same kind of meta, layout-based humor that makes Black and White so slyly funny.

... wordless visual storytelling where everyday scenes reveal layered, allegorical meanings?

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

If you enjoyed how the newsprint motifs and repeated patterns in Black and White hinted at deeper connections beneath the cows and the delayed train, The Arrival offers a profound, wordless allegory. A father migrates to a fantastical city of strange scripts and creatures; every object and gesture carries symbolic weight, inviting you—just as Macaulay does—to read the images for hidden stories and meanings.

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