Really lovely wordless book with all kinds of small considerations happening in its pages. Age, decay, renewal, wry funny commentaries and juxtapositions. Very pleasing -- suitable for many ages. ( )

Artists and picture-book co-creators Anne-Margot Ramstein and Matthias Arégui examine the nature of time in this boldly illustrated wordless concept book. Each before & after pair, whether on the two pages of a single two-page spread, or on the four pages of two back-to-back spreads, presents something that is transformed into something else. Thus an egg turns into a chicken, which (in a humorous reference to that old joke) in turn produces another egg. Night leads to day (and day to night, at the end of the book), acorn to tree, and a sheep to wool...

Originally published in France as Avant Après, this massive tome - although a picture-book, it is 170 pages! - is the second I have read from Ramstein and Arégui, following upon their subsequently published Inside Outside. Like that other title, Before After is an attractively illustrated concept book, one that young children will no doubt enjoy paging through. I don't know that it really needed to be as long as it was, but on the other hand, I wasn't bothered by the length. I can see this being a book to pore over, on a lazy day. Recommended to fans of the artists, to readers who enjoy wordless picture-books, and to anyone in the market for concept books that teach about the relationships between different things. ( )

This book is strictly illustrations and shows the before and after stages of all kinds of different things. From ducklings growing to ducks, or day turning to night these detailed illustrations each tell a story of their own. I enjoy picture-only books because they allow the reader to use their creativity and gather their own perspective from each picture. ( )

A pictures-only book contrasting the before and after of various things in our world. From caterpillars becoming butterflies to a ball of yarn becoming a scarf, many changes occur between the pages of this book.

This book is very cleverly done. it has a whole bunch of before and after pictures that allows students to identify what the before and what the after picture is and how they are related. It is a very thick book but that is only because each page has one object on each so that when you have both pages open, one has a before and one has an after picture so you can look at them side by side. It has a whole bunch of objects such as night and day, a flower blooming, a nut and a tree, a bird and a feather etc.