Black and White

Publishing Details

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Description

A modern classic that remains as fresh today as when it was first published. Two little dogs frolic and dream of adventures beyond their wildest imaginations, from jungles of the Congo with towering ebony elephants to the whitewashed, frigid arctic where the icy white polar bears roam. Dahlov Ipcar once again pairs her timeless illustrations with fresh original verse that celebrates the unity, wonder and beauty of the living, breathing natural world around us.

Reviews

The story, evidently inspired by the U.S. Civil Rights movement, celebrates nature with Ipcar's rhymes and cool, compelling colors. [...] Black and White is a beauty.Kirkus Reviews The lyrical, evocative rhymes are accompanies by vivid illustrations on expansive spreads. . . . This timeless story can also be seen as a subtle allegory depicting integration, as Ipcar interweaves black and white in an effortless, celebratory way.-School Library Journal it would seem that more than a little of [Margaret Wise] Brown's puckish wit and calming lyricism rubbed off on [Ipcar] in this waggish tale about a -little black dog and a little white dog- with big dreams.New York Times The very first Dahlov Ipcar book I got to work on was Black and White, as an assistant children's editor at Knopf in the early 1960's. That meant I helped shepherd things through the process, write the first draft of the flap copy, and spending a lot of time in Art Director Atha Tehon's office because I was absolutely gaga over picture book art. Especially as it was done then, like linoleum prints, each color being processed separately, which still makes my head spin. Being part of the team that worked on Black and White was my introduction to one of the most important influences in my growing life as a children's book writer and reader. Her work was unlike anything else I knew, mind-blowingly original, with an energy and potent visual storytelling that I adored. That her books are now being reissued fifty years later is testament to their staying power, and to the importance of that particular artistic grammar that can still speak to young readers so many years later with as much freshness as they spoke to me in 1963.Jane Yolen [The illustrations] are evocative and move like music across the page.Andrew Shuping, Musing Librarian Reviews

Author Bio

Dahlov Ipcar was born in Windsor, Vermont in 1917 and brought up in Greenwhich village, New York. She has lived on a small dairy farm in Georgetown, Maine since 1937; a place that has inspired many of her stories and art works. Over the last four decades she has written and illustrated over 30 children's books including Farmyard Alphabet which won the NEIBA President's Award in 2010. Pieces of her art are displayed in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Whitney Museum of Modern Art. She won the Kerlan Award for Children's literature and has been given three honorary degrees at The University of Maine, Colby and Bates colleges. In addition to easel paintings, illustrations, and soft sculptures, Dahlov has also completed ten large scale mural projects for public buildings, two for U.S. Post Offices in LaFollette, Tennessee and Yukon, Oklahoma. At the age of 96, Dahlov Ipcar still continues to draw in her hometown in Maine.