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.
—The 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
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