Black and White

By: David Macaulay (1990)

This book by David Macaulay follows four different stories that all seem to influence each other in some way. A boy riding a train notices that cows seem to be blocking the tracks, which delays the train, making some passengers waiting to be picked up late for work. Two of the passengers are the parents of two children that think their parents are mindless and boring, following the same routine of watching TV, opening mail, and asking about homework each night. Because of the cows, the parents miss their train and never make it to work. They instead spend their time singing with all the other waiting passengers and dressing up in newspaper decorated costumes. When the parents go home their children are confused by excited to see their parents acting impulsively and having fun.

When I started reading this book i was confused by all of the different stories, not sure how they were going to go together. As I read more I began to realize that all the stories were intertwined, leading to the parents enjoying their time with their children.
I think that as a teacher this book could be used to show students that their parents, and other adults, are not always serious and that they can act silly at times just like children. I think that this would also be a good book to show students to give them an example of a story that is not told in the traditional way, opening up their eyes to alternative story telling methods.