Afterward, Everything Was Different: A Tale from the Pleistocene

Realistically intricate b&w pencil drawings chronicle the travails of migrating early humans in this enigmatic wordless adventure from Buitrago and Yockteng. Alternately nude or clad in animal skins and carrying spears, early hominids travel en masse through forests, grasslands, and treacherous waters, sometimes encountering dangerous animals along the way. A punishing snowstorm jeopardizes their path along a cliff’s edge, and an enormous boulder appears to flatten one of their group. Eventually, they settle in a cave, and when a youthful figure begins filling the cave walls with imagery depicting their journey, the group discovers an appreciation for storytelling. Concluding text summarizes how “the cave was different afterward,” noting that “the marks she made were never erased,” but it’s immersive sequencing throughout that provides page-turning drama in this absorbing portrait of Pleistocene perils. Ages 4–8. (May)