41 Years of The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

In 1969 Eric Carle produced a book which would become a huge hit worldwide. Even today "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" sells one copy every 30 seconds worldwide.

Now, our friendly caterpillar is 41 and it's still just as popular, if not more so. It's a great children's book with fantastic illustrations and imagination taught throughout.

Eric Carle was born in the United States and then moved to Germany at the age of six. Eric's father would take him on walks through woods and across meadows. His father would lift a stone and underneath it Eric would see an amazing world of creatures and things that lived underneath.

As a child Eric found these adventures with his Father to be quite magical and inspiring. He then went on to re-live these happy and fond memories in his illustrated books. Eric started off his career as a graphic designer. He then later become art director of an advertising agency before then moving into publishing.

Great for children

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a great book for children because it has full page, brightly coloured illustrations to accompany the text. The text within the book is also easy to follow making it ideal for children that are learning to read. The book contains 225 words which are in large text accompanied by colourful illustrations.

It can sometimes be difficult to get children to read books because they might have no interest in reading. Many children's books don't come with that many pictures or the pictures are a bit dull. Children need images and colours that are inspiring and magical.

If you give a child a book that's bursting with full-page, bright and vibrant colours they'll want to look through it again and again. Pictures really help children to explore their imagination. The Very Hungry Caterpillar uses images that are perfect for children's imagination. The images are very artistic and slightly child-like. Not just your normal every-day caterpillar!

The book

The book itself follows the story of a caterpillar that munches his way through a variety of things such as ice cream, salami, watermelon, one slice of Swiss cheese, and a lollipop. The caterpillar then finally emerges as a beautiful butterfly towards the end of the story.

The story teaches children to count to 5, the names of the days of the week and also about some types of food the caterpillar eats. Although the caterpillar's choice of foods in the book is fictional, it does teach children the basic concept of the metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar to butterfly.

The book is widely regarded worldwide as one of the best children's books ever written. It's easy to see why when your child becomes fascinated by its colours, words and humour. If your child is learning to read and you want to find a suitable book that's not going to intimidate them; this is the perfect choice.

We do love what is possibly the world's oldest caterpillar and butterfly, and are delighted to stock a whole host of Hungry Caterpillar goodies – click on the pictures throughout this blog to find out more!