Eric Carle
Recognized in the Creative Minds Montessori 2026 Teacher’s Choice list.
Eric Carle is one of roughly one hundred authors whose work was selected by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list — 120 books chosen across four reading stages, from first lap-reads to first chapter books. Their 2 selected books were chosen for how precisely they meet children at a real developmental moment. This recognition cannot be bought: no author or publisher paid to appear on our lists, and we take no commission on any book sale.
About Eric Carle
Eric Carle (1929–2021) made his picture books from hand-painted papers that he cut and layered into collage; more than 170 million copies of his books have sold worldwide. In 2002 he and his wife Barbara founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, the first full-scale museum in the United States devoted to picture-book art.
Carle was born in Syracuse, New York, moved to Germany with his parents at six, and at fifteen was conscripted to dig trenches on the Siegfried Line. He returned to the United States in 1952 with forty dollars, worked as an advertising art director, and came to picture books when Bill Martin Jr. saw a red lobster he had collaged for an advertisement.
Also by this author: The Very Busy Spider · The Grouchy Ladybug · Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me
Official legacy site: eric-carle.com
Selected for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list
My Very First Book of Words
Page Grabbers · Point and Name
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Page Grabbers · Books That Do Things
Part of The Best Children’s Books by Age, chosen by the teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX.