Dahlov Ipcar, as some of you may know, is certainly no stranger to the world of children’s books. However it is thanks to Sam Arthur and Alex Apiro, responsible for the children’s publishing imprint Flying Eye Books, that her much beloved books complete with distinct illustrations, have been given a new lease of life.
Black and White is the 3rd of Ipcar’s picture books to be published by Flying Eye Books, what a treat.
I’m delighted to be able to share this one with you.
Told in delightful rhyme with a wonderful, calm energy pulsing through the lines, Black and White tells the tale of two little friends – ‘a little black dog and a little white dog.’
Their days are filled with adventures – chasing ‘snowy-white’ cats and ‘coal-black cats’, racing a ‘snow-white snowshoe hare’ and barking at a ‘fluttering bat’. Their days are energetic, so when they each return to their own house and their own beds … they quickly fall asleep to enjoy the most wonderful dreams.
Ipcar’s black and white theme continues and develops in each of their dreams.
Whilst black dog dreams of a ‘jungle night’, white dog dreams of ‘an arctic storm’. Here their worlds combine seamlessly as black dog imagines black-and-white monkeys, butterflies and birds; white dog’s arctic world is brimming with black-and-white seals, sea birds, and fishes that ‘smoothly glide.’
The seamless integration of black and white, of effortlessly combining two worlds is clearly a wonderful metaphor. As relevant today as it was in the 1960s when Dahlov Ipcar was writing against a background of the Civil Rights Movement, Black and White clearly has a powerful, timeless appeal.
Ipcar’s original illustrations have been remastered. The bold colours have been faithfully reproduced – powerful bursts of pinks, and vibrant hues of blue and yellow shine from the pages. Oh, and those endpapers are just gorgeous too.
This will suit those who just adore wonderfully produced and lovingly created picture books – Black and White is a keeper!
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