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) turned hand-painted tissue-paper collage into the visual language of early childhood — 170 million books, a signature museum (the first US museum devoted to picture-book art), and a caterpillar known on every continent.
Carle grew up in wartime Germany after his family left New York, drafted as a teenager to dig trenches; he returned to America at 23 with $40, worked as an ad art director, and only found picture books in his late thirties when Bill Martin Jr. spotted a lobster he'd drawn 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.