Black & White is an accordion-style foldout book for babies, described as ‘A High Contrast Book for Newborns’ on the HarperCollins website. On one side the pictures are black on a white background; on the other they are white on a black background.

The book is sturdy enough to stand up by itself and can be shared with a very young baby, who will enjoy gazing at its fourteen panels of silhouette images.

The illustrations are of objects young children are likely to come across in their early years, such as a bottle, banana, keys and a cat.

Tana Hoban (1917-2006) was a successful American photographer, whose work appeared in magazines such as Life and McCall’s in the 1940s. In 1959 she was named as one of the top ten female photographers in the US.

Her debut children’s title was Shapes and Things (1970), reviewed here. Hoban created more than 50 books for children, most of which feature photos of everyday objects.

The back of the Greenwillow edition shows a photograph of a baby looking at the book. The baby is Tana’s great-grandson, and the photo was taken by Miela Ford, her daughter.