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Noir sur blanc

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Avant même de percevoir les couleurs, les bébés perçoivent les contrastes, le noir sur le blanc, le blanc sur le noir. Dans ce petit livre tout carton, ils reconnaîtront les formes, les objets de leur univers, en contraste et en beauté

10 pages, Board Book

First published February 14, 1993

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Tana Hoban

97 books25 followers

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5 stars
106 (29%)
4 stars
105 (29%)
3 stars
112 (31%)
2 stars
27 (7%)
1 star
4 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
Profile Image for Jon Nakapalau.
6,642 reviews1,053 followers
June 5, 2023
White outlines against a black page...no words...kind of an 'exquisite corpse' feel. I think this book would be very stimulating for a small child - kind of a way to introduce different perspectives that will stay with them. Would also be of interest to older children who are interested in design.
Profile Image for Joel.
599 reviews1,993 followers
May 10, 2012
This is pretty good for a baby book, I guess, but I kind of find it troubling that we're simplifying the complexities of life so much just because newborns are basically dumber than housepets. Like, morality, hell, reality is shades of grey. My daughter needs to see that, even if she can't, you know, literally see that.

You know. Because her eyes don't really work yet.
Profile Image for Kate Ditzler.
154 reviews6 followers
April 16, 2011
Maybe I should make my baby a goodreads account, but for now I'll at least put them on mine, since I'm reading them too.

White on Black is a high contrast board book. My one-month-old preemie loves to lay on her blanket on the floor and look at the book. Sometimes, if she's too cranky to lay by herself, I hold her and talk to her about the pictures. We discovered how much she likes looking at high contrast from a book called "Look! Look!" and so I checked this book out of the library for her to stare at too.
Profile Image for elissa.
2,178 reviews142 followers
January 14, 2008
I checked a copy of this out of the library when my older son was about 2 mos old. I remember lying him on the floor on a blanket in my grandma's living room, with the boardbook open to the bird and the flower, and it kept my 2 month old's attention for a LONG time (for a 2 month old). The same son (who's now 9 1/2) asks me if that meant about 5 minutes. Yup.
120 reviews7 followers
March 3, 2011
Perfect for babies! High contrast books are great for developing eyes. This wordless book encourages caregivers to expand upon the image and engage the child.

Early Literacy Skills:

Letter Knowledge
Print Motivation
372 reviews8 followers
March 7, 2012
This is a wordless book, designed to introduce babies to books, but not to stories. Each page is a simple white-on-black silhouette of an everyday object. This is a great first book, since it's easy for babies to focus on the high-contrast illustrations.
Profile Image for Lydia.
Author 4 books32 followers
March 21, 2012
Love all things Tana Hoban! Very young children can't get enough of these books! The simplicity of the images draw children in and let the minds of the little one's focus and explore. A must have for infants and toddlers.
Profile Image for Msjennifers Corner.
166 reviews4 followers
August 13, 2013
Simple concept big reaction. White picutes on a black background. Babies love this kind of thing. I will say though, I wish I had come up with this one. No text, just pics, and you get a paycheck. Good for you Ms. Hoban.
Profile Image for Kristin Millward-Anastas.
31 reviews8 followers
October 22, 2007
Ezran seems to prefer White on Black over the Black on White book. We read this book together everyday. Also, this book is a nice distraction for a slightly fussy baby.
210 reviews1 follower
February 4, 2012
Excellent visual clarity for babies. No words which happily leaves it up to both the young and old readers to create whatever discussions they'd like to pursue.
Profile Image for Hillary Troutman.
33 reviews1 follower
April 1, 2012
This is a must have to everyone with a baby! I loved how children were able to realize that pictures stand for words and everything has a name. Great simple idea!
Profile Image for Kelsey.
2,354 reviews66 followers
June 12, 2012
Age: 3 months - 1 year

Simple black and white photos allow a baby's adjusting eyes to focus on these high-contrasting objects. Perfect first picture book!
Profile Image for shadesofwords.
197 reviews5 followers
March 6, 2014
It's a great book to engage your baby's attention in the first 6-8 weeks where their vision is blurry and they can only see contrasts!
Profile Image for Brittany.
237 reviews
May 7, 2014
These solid white pictures of everyday objects--a banana, a duck, a bottle--against a black background provide a nice contrast for baby's developing eyes.
Profile Image for Alec Longstreth.
Author 25 books70 followers
January 27, 2016
I have been "reading" this with my daughter, and it is one of the few things that her eyes will actually scan at this point (2 weeks old).
Profile Image for Jennifer.
Author 23 books40 followers
March 7, 2026
Great high-contrast book for babies.
Profile Image for Doug Britt.
6 reviews
December 27, 2018
As I expected "White on Black" - namely white silhouettes on black backgrounds - made very good on its promise. I gave it 4 stars because while it starts emphatically with a silhouette of a baby bottle and moves quickly to a horse on the opposite page it then slowed down with a sail boat and a duck. My child can not read (or talk for that matter) but I could tell they were less than enthralled with the authors choice of the boat. I too was not loving this page. Alas, it picked up again with Buttons and Beads. My children, 3 years apart, both LOVED this spread. There's just something about the buttons with the tiny black button holes. The next page was a bird and a flower (perhaps a daisy in THIS readers stoked imagination.) Finally, the author ended with an apple and banana which was very beautiful. This is a beautiful story of a bottle, horse, some buttons, beads and fruit and one distracting boat, that despite its flaws makes White on Black perfect in all its imperfections. Despite the boat, the story "floats" and I highly recommend to all ages. As long as they're less than 100 days old. Or you are in a book challenge and need a quick read to bolster your numbers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Karawan.
85 reviews22 followers
June 5, 2011
I like the idea of this book (basically it's full of images with black-and-white contrasts which can catch a newborn's still-developing eyes). Unfortunately, it didn't impress my son and I think it's because I waited too long. Our children's librarian gave it to me with a few other "starters" when Gavin was a few (2? 3?) months old. By that time he was over dark/light contrasts and really into looking at people's faces. So he loved "Global Babies" which we got at the same time, but he never got into this book. I still think it could be worth showing to a younger infant though.
Profile Image for Leah.
875 reviews6 followers
July 16, 2011
This book presents the silhouettes of objects in white on a plain white background. These oversimplified illustrations would be perfect for babies as their sight develops. The objects include items that a baby would likely recognize, like a bottle, rubber duckie, buttons, fruit, etc. The copy reviewed was a board book, which is a very fitting format for this very simple book which is clearly targeted at babies.
Profile Image for Brandi.
1,047 reviews7 followers
January 22, 2014
This wordless boardbook presents common images in contrasting colors to babies and toddlers familiarize the children with the shapes. I would suggest an adult "read" this book and its counterpart, Black on White, with the child several times to identify the images.
Profile Image for Vivian.
2,397 reviews
July 29, 2016
Babies and toddlers in our library lap-sit story time all readily identify the white shapes on a black field. The adult sharing the book can stop and sing songs or play rhymes about the shapes if so inclined. There's a bottle, a horse, a boat, a duck, buttons, beads, a bird, a flower, an apple, and a banana.

This has been fun to share with my two-year-old granddaughter.
Profile Image for Dianna.
1,966 reviews43 followers
December 31, 2010
My 18-mo-old wasn't wowed by this book. She could recognize some of the objects, but she wasn't terribly excited about any of them. Of course she prefers Eloise Wilkin, so I can see how this book wouldn't be exactly up her alley.
17 reviews
October 17, 2008
My first book. I'm a little more sophisticated now.
Profile Image for Elizabeth S.
1,959 reviews79 followers
October 6, 2009
No words, so basically silhouettes. Surprisingly, my toddler could recognize most of them.
355 reviews
June 8, 2011
Mila and I were ho-hum on this one, but it was a quick read at least.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews