The Very Hungry Caterpillar
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Page Grabbers stage.
Why it fits Page Grabbers (for young toddlers who treat books as things to do)
Fingers poke through the food holes as the caterpillar eats his way to butterflyhood. Days of the week, counting, and metamorphosis smuggled inside a tactile game. Half a century old and still irresistible.
What makes it special
The die-cut holes make appetite itself tangible — little fingers follow the caterpillar's path through the pages. Carle's tissue-paper collage turned printmaking into a children's aesthetic that half the world's nurseries now speak. Metamorphosis, days of the week, and moderation, all inside a story short enough for the busiest evening.
From the publisher
One sunny day, a caterpillar pops out of an egg. He is very hungry and begins searching for food. He eats his way through ten very sweet pages and gets a tummy ache before finally finding a good, healthy leaf, which…
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
More from “Books That Do Things”
This book is part of The Best Books for Toddlers: 30 Teacher Picks (Page Grabbers) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.