For forty-five years now, this delightful, colorful, teaching book has been available to us! Young and old! Mr. Carle artfully created the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly. We watch an egg become a caterpillar, eating its way through a variety of foods each day of the week until it is time to build its cocoon. The pages are only a partial piece of paper in the beginning with a hole punched in them. As the book progresses, the pages increase in size along with the caterpillar, still with a hole punched in each page. The finale is the transformation of this cute and well-know caterpillar into a gorgeous butterfly.
The colors are bright; the pictures are bold. The art is very Mr. Carle. He has a most certain style and we celebrate 45 years of just this one book…one book of over seventy that Eric Carle has illustrated, authoring many himself. Collage is his favorite method for creating the characters and the backgrounds in all of his books.
This book, originally published in 1969, has been translated into more than 62 languages now and has sold over 41 million copies. It comes in every type of book. There are puppets, caterpillar toys. There is a book with a handle and the caterpillar. My, oh my! Choose the way you want this fun book!
Reading Level: 3 – 5 Years
Author/Illustrator:
Eric Carle was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1929. In 1935, his parents returned to their home of Germany where Mr. Carle was educated. He attended a prestigious art school in Stuttgart, Germany, Akademie der bilenden Künste. He dreamed of returning to America and, in 1952, he did. He worked for the promotion department of The New York Times and then became the art director of an advertising agency.
Bill Martin, Jr. saw an ad done by Eric Carle and called to see if he would illustrate a children’s book he had written. This collaboration is known to the world today as “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” His world changed. He began writing and illustrating his own children’s books.
Awards:
- American Institute of Graphic Arts Award in 1970
- Selection du Grand Prix des Treize in France in 1972
- Nakamori Reader’s Prize in Japan in 1975
- The New York Times one of “Ten Best Picture Books of the Year” in 1969
- National Education Association’s #1 of its “Teachers’ Top 100 Books for Children”
- and many more
“Eric Carle has two grown-up children, a son and a daughter. He divides his time between the Florida Keys and the hills of North Carolina.” **
He and his wife, Bobbi, dreamed of and built The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. They “were interested in developing enthusiasts for the art of picture books and in encouraging the habit of museum going in our younger visitors. Children’s picture book art is the introduction to art for young people, and we wanted to show the highest examples of that art to demonstrate the beauty, the seriousness and the fun of it. We wanted to create a museum that exhibits the work of national and international picture book artists.” ** PLUS…his museum site has activities and games, resources, and so much more.
You can also find him at his own website and blog here – http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html
If you love to read Eric Carle’s books with your children and want activities to go along with them, I suggest doing a search for “activities Eric Carle” (or a few other similar words). There is a plethora of creative activities to go with each of his books amassed on the internet for your perusal and use.
Book Information:
ISBN-13: 9780399208539
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date: 10/28/1981
Pages: 32
- Product dimensions: 8.30(w) x 11.90(h) x 0.50(d)
** information from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
linking up with: Teach Mentor Texts, Unleashing Readers, The Book Date, Literacy Musing Mondays, What to Read Wednesday, Kid Lit Blog Hop, Booknificent Thursdays, The Book Nook, Literary Friday, Semicolon Saturday, Reading List/Cozy Reading Spot, Book Review Blog Hop
One of my all time fave children’s books. I think it’s pretty cool that it has been around for 45 years. Shows that is a classic! 🙂
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You are so right…a classic for sure!
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Wonderful post. I’m going to share on Facebook. I love this book & all of Carle’s work. He has a new one out just recently! I’d love to visit the museum. Thanks for all the background, too.
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Yes, Linda, I love his work too. I have the new one in my to write the review ASAP. “The Nonsense Show” is really silly and fun.
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Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr are an unbeatable combination of picture books that entice students into the world of literacy. I have a half completed quilt made out of Brown Bear fabrics. I’m waiting for a grandchild before I get around to finishing it.
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Yes, they are a wonderful team. I was blessed to meet Mr. Martin when he came to Corpus Christi, TX for our annual book festival for the preschoolers from all around the city. Thousands of kids and free books and arts and crafts, usually two authors and one illustrator. He was here one year when I was a part of the committee that put on this affair. It was great!!!! He is such a neat storyteller with the kids, as you can imagine he would be.
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There are simply books that one won’t ever get tired of and this is one of them. Eric Carle is such a gifted book designer. 🙂
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Oh, I know, Myra! How many times can we read these types of books to children who ask over and over to “Read again!” They never grow tired of them nor do we! Glad you came by!
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Such a cute book. I remember reading with my kids. Thanks for sharing with What to Read Wednesday. Hope to see you again this week!
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I love this book, and we read it often around here. I just saw that there’s a new Hungry Caterpillar Christmas book this year. That sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks so much for linking this up at Booknificent Thursday this week!
Tina
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A classic that will ALWAYS be in print (I hope). I love Eric Carle’s art….how he used painted/watercolored paper to make collage illustrations. I’m sorry that I’m just now stopping by, but I didn’t get an email notification about your linking-up!
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Such a great, classic children’s book! Visiting from #cozyreadingspot.
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Always a classic and so many fun activities you can find to go with the books online! Thanks for linking up at Literacy Musing Mondays.
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Yes, it will continue to be a well-read book. Thanks for coming by.
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