Black on White: A High Contrast Book For Newborns

by Tana Hoban, Tana Hoban (Illustrator)

Overview

Share this book with the baby in your life. It’s never too early to read together!

From the eminent photographer and acclaimed book creator Tana Hoban, this bestselling large format board book features bold black-and-white high-contrast images to engage babies and very young children.

Tana Hoban’s board books have sold more than a million copies and are beloved by teachers, librarians, parents, and readers. A perfect gift for new parents and babies.

Before they are able to clearly see colors, babies respond to the strong contrast between black and white, which makes this the perfect first book for young, developing brains. Experiencing bold black-and-white contrast helps stimulate development in the retina and the optic nerve.

About Black on White and White on Black, Publishers Weekly said, “Hoban’s compositions are so supple and her layouts so well balanced that she casts kind of a spell . . . magical.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780688119188
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/27/1993
Pages:	12
Sales rank:	157,944
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 6.25(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 2 Years

About the Author

Tana Hoban's (1917–2006) photographs have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and in galleries around the world. She has won many gold medals and prizes for her work as a photographer and filmmaker. Her books for children are known and loved internationally. 

Tana Hoban's (1917–2006) photographs have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and in galleries around the world. She has won many gold medals and prizes for her work as a photographer and filmmaker. Her books for children are known and loved internationally. 

Editorial Reviews

Guided by the same precepts as those inspiring Dick Witt's Let's Look at Animals and Let's Look at My World (see review above), Hoban creates two stylish board books using only black and white. One volume drops out clearly recognizable shapes from black ground (a sailboat, a bird, a flower and so forth appear in white); the other sets black objects against white ground. The black in both books is shiny enough to reflect images on facing pages. White on Black may be more dramatic, but Black on White is more varied, alternating solid shapes (leaf, fork and spoon) with patterned or stencil-like images (butterfly, spectacles). Hoban's compositions are so supple and her layouts so well balanced that she casts a kind of spell; it's as if the color and black-and-white segments of the Wizard of Oz were reversed, with the ordinary seeming somehow magical. Ages 6 mos.-up. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly