Introducing The Black and White Factory, an interactive and entertaining picture book in the vein of Hervé Tullet's Press Here and Mix It Up!
Welcome to the Black and White Factory! Penguin, zebra, and panda will take you on a top-secret tour to see some black and white products that are made here, like salt and pepper shakers, dice, half decks of playing cards (only spades and clubs!), chess pieces, and tuxedos, in addition to a few special experimental projects. There are a few rules, though:
No messes.
No colors.
No surprises allowed.
EVER.
But when the tour gets to the bar code room, some color has seeped in! It's up to the reader to try and rub it off and tilt the book so that it comes off, but nothing works! The animals then use a giant cleaning contraption and need you to help blow into the nozzle to power the machine, and it starts to work! But there's too much color to clean, and it blows color all over the factory. And the animals love it! But of course, they'll have to change the rules a bit now:
messes,
colors,
surprises allowed.
forEVER!
All readers touring the Black and White Factory must solemnly swear to follow the rules: "No messes. No colors. No surprises allowed. Ever." These mandates are strictly enforced by three tour guides: a penguin, a panda bear, and a zebra. The tour includes products (dominoes and dice), animals (dalmatians, skunks, and Holsteins), and, in an elegant showroom, bar codes. Suddenly, horror! A smudge of orange has crept onto a bar code! Readers are asked to help rub it away, but that only creates a larger stain. Soon other vibrant colors seep in, despite pleas to tilt pages, swirl the book around, and even blow offending hues away. The resulting sloppy but wonderful mess converts our guides, and new rules go into effect: "Messes, Colors, Surprises Allowed Forever!" Stark black-and-white images on gray backgrounds begin the book, making that first streak of orange all the more jarring. Subsequent yellows, reds, purples, and blues explode off pages, relentless in their cheerfulness. A great read-aloud, especially for kids about to undertake art projects.
