Happy Birthday, Eric Carle!

Today Eric Carle celebrates his 89th birthday! He is best-known for The Very Hungry Caterpillar (click this link to hear him read it aloud),  but he was written and/or illustrated over 70 picture books for children.

Carle's trademark collage artwork gives his stories not only a vibrant, colorful, textured appearance, it creates lovable characters for his readers to connect to and enjoy.

As I was looking through my collection and the public library collection (who else loves being able to reserve books online and pick them up without having to search?!?), I noticed that he's written a few that begin with The Very. I opened the cover of The Very Lonely Firefly and read this lovely note from Mr. Carle to his young readers:

Dear Friends,
After The Very Hungry Caterpillar had been published I wanted to create a VERY quartet. With this book I have achieved that goal.

1. THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR is about hope. You, like the little caterpillar, will grow up, unfold your wings, and fly off into the future.

2. THE VERY BUSY SPIDER is about work. We need to work and finish our tasks despite the many diversions.

3. THE VERY QUIET CRICKET is about love. Crickets and people alike search for and hope to find a suitable mate.

4. THE VERY LONELY FIREFLY is about belonging. We all want to belong to a group, a family, our own fellow creatures.

I hope you like my firefly.

Sincerely,
Eric Carle

I'll admit to tearing up. To me, it is an incredible gift when someone who touches so many young lives through story reaches out in a very personal way to reinforce the purpose of his work.

If you've never read one of his books, or if you haven't made your way through his body of work, start now. 

If you aren't able to get to a library or bookstore, Online Stories has produced quite a few of his books.

Once you have reveled in a bit of his work, there are some great online sources for learning more about him.

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts has a wonderful website.

Mermaid Theatre Nova Scotia produced this video of several of his stories.

A short Q&A session with Eric Carle.


Have a VERY good time getting to know the wonderful world of Eric Carle!

* He has a 5th VERY book - The Very Clumsy Click Beetle.

Love From the Very Hungry Caterpillar

What a gem! Of course, it's Eric Carle, so gem status is guaranteed, but still.

His trademark collage illustrations once again bring to life reader favorite - the very hungry caterpillar - in the 2015 picture book, Love from The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

This tiny book is short and sweet, telling the reader why s/he is loved. Everyone likes to hear that they make the stars sparkle and the sun shine brighter for someone, right? Little ones will enjoy pointing out our friend the caterpillar on each page. This is a wonderful snuggle up book to read with your child or grandchild (another Grandma's Book of the Month Club pick!) and it's brief enough that the littlest of the littles will sit still for it :)

One of the items on my bucket list is visiting The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. I was looking for more information about the museum on his website and blog, when I found this:

Very Eric Carle: A Very Hungry, Quiet, Lonely, Clumsy, Busy Exhibit

This traveling exhibition is co-organized by the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

• Spring 2018: Discovery Cube, LA, Los Angeles, CA
• Summer 2018: Family Museum, Bettendorf, IA
• Fall 2018: Mississippi Children’s Museum, Jackson, MS
• Summer 2019: Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito, CA

I'm sad that the exhibition won't be in Seattle, but California is doable! To tide you over till you can visit the museum, here are some video links Eric Carle fans will enjoy:

Here's a cute Q&A interview with him from 2007.

On the 40th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, he gave this interview.

Here he is reading aloud The Very Hungry Caterpillar.