Today, let’s talk about Eric Carle.
Eric Carle is an American writter and illustrator of children’s books who is best known for his masterpiece, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He is now 85 years old. He and his wife, Bobbie opened ‘The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art’ in Amherst, Massachusetts. You can check out it here.
The day I will visit this museum will be another one of those happiest moments in my life. I write, but I can’t draw. But even writing for kids is an emotional-mental-intellectual struggle as children, to me, are the most difficult audience. So I am learning about writing for children by reading books for children. Eric Carle is one of my “mentors”.
I wrote about seven books by Eric Carle that my kids and I enjoy for a All Women Stalk and I am happy to share them to you in this post. The books in this list are my top favorites.
The ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar’ is a classic children’s story that teaches numbers and simple vocabulary words.
I particularly adore ‘Pancakes, Pancakes’ because it gives the child (and the accompanying adult) a back-to-the-very-basic tour of the ingredients in making pancakes. The kind of pancakes presented in this story is not your usual recipe that instructs you to “just add water”. At the end of the story, the child knows how to savor that pancake in his plate because that pancake was indeed, in the truest sense, a labor of love and hard work.
To me, the story ‘Rooster’s Off to See the World’ does not only teaches children how to count or how to make the sounds of featured animals (in this book); this book also indirectly teaches adults the lesson that you don’t really need to explore that far from home to discover the world. Read about it or listen to the narrations/oral readings in Youtube.
‘Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me’ is about a little girl who requested her father to get the moon for her so she can play with the moon. Papa loves the little girl and gave in to her wish. But how did he manage to get the moon for his little girl? It’s for me to know and you to find out.
I also love ‘House for Hermit Crab’ because it introduces the days of the week. Among all the books that Eric Carle illustrated, this is my favorite. How he presented the colorful creatures under the sea is a visual feast.
And…dont’ forget to read ‘The Grouchy Ladybug’ to know the story of the little, red-and-black thing who is very proud and always grouchy, and what happened to her quest in finding someone big to fight with.
It’s a challenge to find English books here in China so Amazon China, which I discovered five months ago (if I’m not mistaken) has been my best friend in looking/searching for English books for the twins.
I also ordered a book set called “My Very First Library” which contained four hardbound books on numbers, colors, shapes, and words derived from Eric Carle’s books. I have started introducing these books to the twins. We are in the ‘point-and-marvel’ stage. Some days, they mimic me when I read the words and point at the pictures.
It requires patience and determination to jumpstart your children’s literacy development. Some days are good, other days are not that good. The important thing is to keep pressing on. Consistency is the best policy.
