cover image My Pictures After the Storm

My Pictures After the Storm

Éric Veillé, trans. from the French by Daniel Hahn. Gecko Press USA (Lerner, dist.), $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-77657-104-8

French author-illustrator Veillé creates a mischievous take on cause and effect in this paper-over-board title featuring collections of cartoons in eye-catching primary colors. Left-hand pages, labeled “my pictures,” present objects, people, or animals that are transformed by various events. On one spread, a “cake,” “octopus,” and “pig” appear at left, but “after an elephant” they are obliterated, becoming a “splitch,” a “splatch,” and a flattened “piece of ham.” Elsewhere, “bread,” an “apple,” and “cheese” are reduced to “crumbs,” “core,” and “rind” after lunch, and “after a cold” a “lebod” and “dobado” are restored to a “lemon” and “tomato,” respectively. Unexpected giggles await with every page turn. Ages 1–5. (Mar.)