View source for My Pictures after the Storm by Eric Veille

{{infobox2
|title=My Pictures after the Storm 
|author=Eric Veille
|reviewer=Sam Tyler
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=A lot can happen in an instant; a gust of wind or an elephant stampede.  Witness some leftfield before and after illustrations for any child with a cheeky sense of humour. 
|rating=4
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Maybe
|pages=32
|publisher=Gecko Press
|date=April 2017
|isbn=9781776571048
|website=http://www.actes-sud-junior.fr/auteur.php?id=6273
|video=
|aznuk=1776571045
|aznus=1776571045
|cover=1776571045
}}

One of the staples of baby books are those that look at opposites.  This elephant is big, whilst this mouse is small.  They help children to understand the world around them, but can also be a little dull.  What about a more interesting book about cause and effect that looks at what happens before and after an event.  You could start off gently by seeing what happens to items after a storm, but if you are Eric Veillé you can soon spiral into a madcap world of elephant stampedes and babies being born.

The use of humour in children's books is a great way of entraining a child, but also the adult, but there is a line of sophistication that an author should be wary of.  Children should not be belittled or patronised, but you also need to keep in mind that they don't know everything.  ''My Pictures after the Storm'' seems to ignore this advice as Veillé has almost created a book that appears to be aimed at children, but will appeal to a mischievous adult.

I for one thoroughly enjoyed the book.  There is a French sense of humour that reminds me of cheeky seaside postcards, but is that what a child wants or understands?  On a good note, the book is genuinely funny and innovative.  Veillé has seen the staid and dull world of cause and effect books and created something that stands out.  The illustrations themselves are simple, but great fun.  Were the real entertainment lies is in the situations themselves.  Each double spread of the book has a before and after page; the left side is calm, the right side chaos.  However, some of the reasons that the chaos has ensued are as daft as a brush.  Parents will enjoy the page that shows before and after the baby – one side a nuclear family, the other a crying baby surrounded by mess.

The humour is perhaps too subversive for the audience that the book is traditionally aimed at.  A toddler can just about understand a before and after picture, but they won't understand why something is meant to be funny.  Therefore, is it for an older child, or an adult?  These groups will inversely find the book too simple.  The humour raises a chuckle, but it does feel like it is designed for a toddler.  Has Veillé been too clever for his own good?  Perhaps, the book would only really work with a very cheeky family, but there is no denying that it is really good fun and for that I can forgive that it is seems to be aimed at everyone and no one at the same time.

There are other books that aim to make early years education a little more anarchic and fun, [[What's the Opposite? by Oliver Jeffers]] springs to mind.

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