Written and Illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Published by Roaring Brook Press, 2006
ISBN 978-1-59643-272-7

Award winning artist Laura Vaccaro Seeger has explored the alphabet in The Hidden Alphabet, played with emotions in Walter Was Worried, and introduced colors to curious readers in Lemons Are Not Red.  Now this talented author/illustrator uses her visual storytelling skills to uncover opposites in the hard cover concept book, Black? White! Day? Night!

Through a series of die-cut pages, the images transform from one thing to another. Peeking through a small square on a red page we see a tree OUTSIDE only to discover that in the picture under the flap the tree is seen through a window and the viewer is INSIDE. A SAD face seen through a small square on a blue page is actually a smiling HAPPY face underneath (the sad face was a close-up of the nose). That TINY flea seen through an off-centered square becomes the eye of a HUGE elephant when uncovered.

This very clever approach to opposites will have young readers eagerly anticipating the surprise that lies under each page flap. Teachers can use Black? White! Day? Night! as a model for students when creating their own opposite books and the minimal number of words per page will help English language learners begin to understand the concept of opposites in a very tangible way.

Seeger describes her work as “conceptual and at the same time story-driven”. For her, the ideas and images come simultaneously and no where does her skill shine brighter than in this ALA Notable book.

—Heidi Grosch