Author Crush ~ Eric Carle

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In honor of Read Across America Day today, we
would like to introduce you to Kelly Mattson.


Kelly is interning with us at
Blueberry Pancake Publishing this semester while she is
finishing her degree in Special Education from
Stephen F. Austin University in Texas.
Today she is sharing her thoughts and ideas about
one of BPP's favorite author/illustrators.. Eric Carle.
Eric Carle has nibbled his way through books and into the
hearts of children across the world. But, I wanted to
know what Kelly thought about Eric Carle. Thank
you Kelly for sharing with our readers.




Author Crush  


Eric Carle
Born June 25th 1929 in Syracuse, NY
88 years old


The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969)

Eric Carle’s most well-known book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar
which is about a caterpillar hatching from an egg, eating various foods
over a week, and eventually turning into a beautiful butterfly. Besides
being such a fun story to read, excellent pictures to go along with it,
and it also offers many lessons for children.The Very Hungry
Caterpillar includes educational themes such as counting, the days
of the week, and the life cycle of a butterfly.  
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is not the only book Eric Carle
uses to teach lessons. In fact, most of his books have at least
one underlying lesson to help children grow intellectually.
The book 1, 2, 3, To The Zoo is a great book for teaching counting
because each page has the child count the different animals.
The only words on each page are numbers so the reader can
make up their own story to go along with the pictures.
What I find so interesting about Eric Carle’s books are the added
dimensions some of them have.  Several of his books have certain
aspects that steer away from the norm. For example, The Grouchy
Ladybug has different size pages to represent the size of each
animal the ladybug encounters.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar has
holes through each piece of food that he eats to show how caterpillars
nibble their way through their food. The Very Lonely Firefly has fun,
little, twinkling lights and The Very Quiet Cricket plays the sounds of
crickets.



Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (1967)
Written by Bill Martin Jr. Illustrated by Eric Carle

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Helps children learn the
colors as well as learn different animals. As a (almost) first year
teacher, the educational aspect is my favorite part of Carle’s writing.




Pancakes, Pancakes! (1970)



The Tiny Seed (1970)


The Mixed-Up Chameleon (1975)



The Grouchy Ladybug (1977)



The Very Busy Spider (1984)


Eric Carle, like most authors, tends to write about what he
loves – nature! Many young children relate to him in this way
because they enjoy exploring the outside world. This is part
of the reason why I think children are so intrigued with his work.


The Very Quiet Cricket (1990)



The Very Lonely Firefly (1995)



From Head to Toe  (1997)





Fun Fact: In 2002, Eric Carle and his wife opened up The Eric Carle
Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Visitors are welcome to come and see the exhibits that are out
at the time. These exhibits showcase picture book illustrations
from all over the world. I would love to make my way to
Massachusetts one day to visit the museum!

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