Eric Carle is an American designer, illustrator, and writer of children's
books. He is most famous for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a picture book with
few words that has been translated into more than 62 languages and sold more
than 41 million copies. Since it was published in 1969 he has illustrated
more than 70 books, most of which he also wrote, and more than 132 million
copies of his books have been sold around the world. He won the biennial
Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his career contribution to American
children's literature in 2003. For his contribution as a children's
illustrator Carle was U.S. nominee for the biennial, international Hans
Christian Andersen Award in 2010. Early life
Eric Carle was born in 1929 to Erich and Johanna Carle in Syracuse, New York.
When he was six years old, his mother, homesick for Germany, led the family
back to Stuttgart. He was educated there and graduated from the local art school.
Eric's father was drafted into the German army at the beginning of World
War II and taken prisoner by the Soviet forces when Germany capitulated early in
1945. He returned home late in 1947 weighing 85 pounds. "When he came back,
he was a broken man," Carle told The Guardian years later. He was a "sick
man, psychologically, physically devastated."
Eric had been sent to the small town of Schwenningen to escape the bombings of
Stuttgart. When he was 15 the German government conscripted boys of that age
to dig trenches on the Siegfried line. He doesn't care to think about it deeply
and says his wife thinks he suffers from post-traumatic stress. "You know about
the Siegfried line? To dig trenches. And the first day three people were killed a
few feet away. None of us children -- Russian prisoners and other conscripted
workers. The nurses came and started crying. And in Stuttgart, our home town,
our house was the only one standing. When I say standing, I mean the roof and
windows are gone, and the doors. And, well, there you are."
Always homesick for America, Eric dreamed of returning one day and moved
to New York City in 1952 with only $40. There he landed a job as graphic
designer in the promotion department of The New York Times. He was drafted into
the U.S. Army during the Korean War and stationed in Germany with the Second
Armored Division as a mail clerk. After discharge he returned to his old job
with The New York Times. Later he became the art director of an advertising
agency. Writing and illustrating career
Educator and author Bill Martin, Jr. first noticed the illustration of a red
lobster Carle had created for an advertisement and asked him to
collaborate on a picture book. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
was published by Henry Holt & Co. in 1967 and became a best-seller. This
began Carle's true career; Soon he was writing and illustrating his own
stories. His first books as both author and illustrator were 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo
and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Style
Eric Carle's art is distinctive and instantly recognizable. His art work is
created in collage technique, using hand-painted papers, which he cuts and
layers to form bright and colorful images. Many of his books have an added
dimension—die-cut pages, twinkling lights as in The Very Lonely Firefly,
even the lifelike sound of a cricket’s song as in The Very Quiet Cricket.
The themes of his stories are usually drawn from his extensive knowledge and
love of nature— an interest shared by most small children. Carle attempts to
make his books not only entertaining, but also to offer his readers the
opportunity to learn something about the world around them. When writing, Carle
attempts to recognize children's feelings, inquisitiveness and
creativity, as well as stimulate their intellectual growth; it is for these
reasons that many feel his books have been such a success.
In his own words: Later life
Eric Carle has a son and a daughter. He currently divides his time between the
Florida Keys and the Hills of North Carolina. For over 30 years, Carle and
his second wife, Barbara Morrison, lived in Northampton, Massachusetts.
With his wife, Eric Carle founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, a
44,000 sq ft museum devoted to the art of children's books in Amherst located
adjacent to Hampshire College as part of the Hampshire College Cultural Village.
The Museum has welcomed more than 500,000 visitors, including more than
30,000 school children, since it opened its doors in 2002.
Eric Carle has received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and
universities including Smith College in 2014, Appalachian State University in
2013 and from Bates College in 2007. Google paid tribute to Carle and his
book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by asking him to design the logo "Google
doodle", introduced on its home page on March 20, 2009, celebrating the first
day of spring. He also designed a "Google doodle" with autumnal theme for
the use in Southern Hemisphere. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was chosen
by Jumpstart for Young Children as the book for Read For the Record 2009 on
October 8 of that year. The program encourages educators, librarians and
parents to try to have as many as possible read the same book on the same
day all over the world. Carle has won numerous awards for his
work in children's literature and most for his collages, all from 1989 to 2008.
In 2003 he received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the professional
children's librarians, which recognizes a living author or illustrator whose
books, published in the United States, have made "a substantial and lasting
contribution to literature for children". The committee cited his
"visual observations of the natural world" and his innovative designs:
"Taking the medium of collage to a new level, Carle creates books using
luminous colors and playful designs often incorporating an interactive
dimension, tactile or auditory discoveries, die-cut pages, foldouts,
and other innovative uses of page space."
In a 2012 survey of School Library Journal readers, The Very Hungry
Caterpillar was voted the number two children's picture book behind Where the
Wild Things Are. Works
1965, Aesop's Fables for Modern Readers 1965, Nature Thoughts: A Selection
1966, On Friendship: A Selection 1967, Flower Thoughts: A Selection
1967, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
1968, 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo 1969, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
1970, Pancakes, Pancakes! 1970, The Tiny Seed
1970, Tales of the Nincompoop 1970, The Boastful Fisherman
1971, Feathered Ones and Furry 1971, The Scarecrow Clock
1971, Do You Want to Be My Friend? 1972, Rooster’s Off to See the World
1972, The Very Long Tail 1972, The Secret Birthday Message
1972, Walter the Baker 1973, Do Bears Have Mothers Too?
1973, Have You Seen My Cat? 1973, I See a Song, 1973
1974, Split-page book collection: My Very First Book of Numbers
My Very First Book of Colors My Very First Book of Shapes
My Very First Book of Words 1974, Why Noah Chose the Dove
1974, All About Arthur 1975, The Hole in the Dike
1975, The Mixed-Up Chameleon 1976, Eric Carle’s Storybook, Seven
Tales by the Brothers Grimm 1977, The Grouchy Ladybug
1978, Watch Out! A Giant! 1978, Seven Stories by Hans Christian
Andersen 1980, Twelve Tales from Aesop
1981, The Honeybee and the Robber 1982, Otter Nonsense
1982, Catch the Ball! 1982, What's for Lunch
1983, Chip Has Many Brothers 1984, The Very Busy Spider
1985, The Foolish Tortoise 1985, The Greedy Python
1985, The Mountain that Loved a Bird 1986, All Around Us
1986, Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me 1986, Group of small-format books:
My Very First Book of Sounds My Very First Book of Food
My Very First Book of Tools My Very First Book of Touch
My Very First Book of Motion My Very First Book of Growth
My Very First Book of Homes My Very First Book of Heads
1986, All in a Day 1987, A House for Hermit Crab
1988, The Lamb and the Butterfly 1988, Eric Carle’s Treasury of Classic
Stories for Children 1989, Animals Animals
1990, The Very Quiet Cricket 1991, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do
You Hear? 1991, Dragons Dragons
1992, Draw Me a Star 1993, Today Is Monday
1994, My Apron 1995, The Very Lonely Firefly
1996, Little Cloud 1997, From Head to Toe
1997, Flora and Tiger: 19 very short stories from my life
1998, Hello, Red Fox 1998, You Can Make a Collage: A Very
Simple How-to Book 1999, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle
2000, Does A Kangaroo Have A Mother, Too?
2000, Dream Snow 2002, “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” said the
Sloth 2003, Where Are You Going? To See My
Friend! 2003, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do
You See? 2004, Mister Seahorse
2005, 10 Little Rubber Ducks 2006, My Very First Book of Numbers
2007, Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?
2008, The Rabbit and the Turtle 2009, Google Logo Design
2009, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Pop-Up Edition
2011, The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse
2013, Friends 2014, What's Your Favorite Animal?
See also References
External links Official website
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture book Art
Commencement address by Carle on YouTube at Bates College
This one's got legs – interview of Carle by Emma Brockes in The Guardian
Google logo design reported by The Daily Telegraph
Eric Carle at Library of Congress Authorities — with 151 catalog records