John Kane Books

Have you ever heard one of the many versions of the joke; ‘What’s black and white and…?’ Well, if that’s your style of humour then ‘What is Black and White?’ by John Kane will be perfect for you and your class. The cover is brilliant orange with a huge penguin’s face looking up at the question. It is impossible to resist looking inside and when you do…there’s a completely black page which contains the title question. From then on, each page asks you the same thing, only with a tiny addition each time. Of course, the penguin on the cover is featured each time and you get to discover a little more about him with every question asked!

The story is completely silly and heartwarming throughout and will make you laugh out loud on more than one occasion. As a book to use with Reception or Y1, it holds lots of opportunities to model language. The question and answer format is ideal to use as a model for children when writing their own questions and there are lots of lovely adjectives to discuss. If you have a frozen planet topic, using the story’s penguin and comparing him with real life penguins would enable lots of conversation and support further research. Do penguins really eat tacos? And how do they really keep warm in their Antarctic habitat?

You might even wish to use the book to prompt your class to make up some jokes of their own or look for jokes which have a similar model.It’s a gorgeous book and is highly recommended.