THE VERY BUSY “PICTURE WRITER” The Prolificacy of Eric Carle - An Author Study Ann Marie Wasson

BIOGRAPHY Eric Carle was born on June 25 in Syracuse, New York. His parents were German emigrants. Carle and his family returned to Germany when he was 6. He grew up in Nazi Germany. Carle graduated from the prestigious art school Akademie der bildenden Kunste in Stuttgart Germany. Carle was a poster designer in Germany. Carle returned to the USA Carle worked as a graphic designer for the New York Times. Carle was recruited by the US Army and stationed in Stuttgart, Germany for two years. Carle was an art director for Frohlich & Company in New York Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? written by Bill Martin, Jr. is published. This is the first book that Eric Carle illustrated. It launched his career in children’s books. Carle has authored and illustrated over 70 children’s picture books. Carle opened The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amhurst, MA Carle lives with his wife Bobbie in Northampton, MA and spends time in the NC mountains Present 2002

Eric Carle Through the Years

Why does Eric Carle write children’s books? Carle says, “I want to show that learning is really both fascinating and fun.” When asked which comes first, the story or the pictures, Carle says the idea. Carle says the hardest part of writing picture books is developing the idea. Some of his ideas floated around his head since his childhood. The idea for The Very Hungry Caterpillar began with punching holes in a stack of paper.. The Mixed Up Chameleon came from the melding of two experiences. 1. Visiting schools and drawing animals that students called out, sometimes stringing parts from different animals together. 2. Watching a chameleon at the zoo and wondering “what if a chameleon could change more than just its color?” Even when Carle gets an idea, he waivers between thinking it is the best idea or worst idea he has ever had. Carle takes his big idea and reduces and simplifies it to fit the format of a picture book.

He says he developed this skill as a child in school because things were hard for him to understand. Simplifying them made them understandable. To do this Carle starts with a dummy book, 8 pages, folded and stapled which makes a 32 page blank book. He then sketches his idea in the book. Carle says picture books are deceptively simple. “Let’s put it this way: if you are a novelist, I think you start with a 20 word idea, and you work at it and you wind up with a 200,000 word novel. We picture book people, or at least I, start with 200,000 words and I reduce it to 20.”

Carle says the artwork for his books goes very quickly. He makes collage illustrations. Carle uses acrylic paint which he mixes with water. He then uses this paint on white tissue paper. He uses brushes and his fingers to paint. He uses bold colors. He layers colors onto the tissue. He lets the paper dry. He draws the image he wants onto tracing paper. He places the drawing paper over the colored paper and cuts a section at a time, cutting through both layers. He puts glue on the back of each piece and places the pieces on a white illustration board. If he chooses to use a background color, he glues down a large piece of painted tissue and layers on top of it. He sometimes finishes details with crayons or colored pencils.

I chose to use Eric Carle books in my classroom because, although they may appear to be just simple picture books for young children, Carle packs a lot of concepts that children need to learn in each one. Many times he uses their favorite topic, animals, which he illustrates in a bold attractive way. This makes each an engaging learning experience. That is a winning combination! I would begin with the book with the most basic concept and least text… 1,2,3 To the Zoo. I would progress through the books as they are ordered on the slides and use the activities listed there. Unit of Study

1,2,3 To the Zoo Teaching Ideas for Kindergarten Math: Teaching Ideas for Kindergarten Language Arts: Use the train cars to retell the book. NCSCS 3.04 Use speaking and listening skills and media to connect experiences to text: discussing, illustrating, and dramatizing stories. Use clip art or draw train cars with animals that match pages of the book, without the numeral. Have students count the animals and write the corresponding numeral with the train car. Have students put the cars in numerical order. NCSCS 1.01 Develop number sense for whole numbers through 30. b. Count objects in a set. c. Read and write numerals. d. Compare and order sets and numbers. SUMMARY: This is a wordless picture book. It is also a counting book. It begins with a picture of a train engine. Each page thereafter has animals that will be taken to the zoo on the train, beginning with one elephant and progressing to ten birds. The final page shows all the animals in their cages at the zoo.

Have You Seen My Cat? Summary In this book, a little boy is searching for his cat. He asks everyone he encounters, “Have you seen my cat?” They each point him toward a cat, but none of them are his. Instead they are; a lion, a bobcat, a puma, a jaguar, a panther, a cheetah, a tiger, and a Persian cat. Finally, at the end he finds his cat, and it has had kittens! Teaching Ideas for Kindergarten Language Arts: Remind students that sentences have end marks like periods. As a class, decide what the exclamation mark and question mark mean. Use another type of animal, dog, perhaps to write a class book, using Carle’s book as a template. Teacher and students read both books repeatedly. NCSCS 1.01 Develop book and print awareness Demonstrate an understanding of directionality and voice-print match by following print word for word when listening to familiar text read aloud Read or begin to read: Attempt to read/reads simple patterned text, decodable text, and/or predictable texts using letter-sound knowledge and pictures to construct meaning Write and/or participate in writing behaviors by using authors' models of language.

From Head to Toe Summary: On each page of this book an animal shows a child something it can do with a body part, and then asks, “Can you do it?” The child copies the animal and says, “I can do it!” As suggested by the title, the book begins with a penguin turning its head. It progresses through parts down to toes. Teaching Ideas for Kindergarten Healthful Living/Writing Ask individual students to think of something he/she can do (not necessarily with body parts…could be “write my name”). Record responses. Make a class book from the responses. Teacher and students read and reread the book. NCSCS Healthful Living Goal 1: The learner will develop knowledge and skills to enhance mental and emotional well-being. Language Arts 1.02 Develop book and print awareness. Demonstrate an understanding of directionality and voice-print match by following print word for word when listening to familiar text read aloud Read or begin to read: Attempt to read/reads simple patterned text, decodable text, and/or predictable texts using letter-sound knowledge and pictures to construct meaning Write and/or participate in writing behaviors by using authors' models of language. Science/Math Look at animals in the text. Decide how they are alike and different. Sort by body covering, number of legs, or type of animal (bird, mammal, reptile). NCSCS Science 1.01 Observe and describe the similarities and differences among animals Math 5.01 Sort and classify objects by one attribute.

Today is Monday Summary: Eric Carle illustrated this popular children’s song. The song progresses through the days of the week with a different food for each day. For instance, “Today is Monday. Monday string beans.” As with most of his books, there is an animal on each page. At the end, children are implored, “All you hungry children, come eat it up!” The song’s lyrics and music are included at the end of the book. Teaching Ideas for Kindergarten Language Arts/Math: Make individual books. Have each child choose seven foods they like. Make a template and insert their foods in the text. Have a class picture or individual picture of students for the last page. Have the students illustrate their books with drawings or a collage of an animal with their food for each page. Now, they each have their own song to sing as well. Read, reread and sing books! NCSCS Language Arts: 4.06 Write and/or participate in writing behaviors by using authors' models of language. Math: 2.02 Recognize concepts of calendar time using appropriate vocabulary (days of the week, months of the year, seasons).

10 Little Rubber Ducks SUMMARY: This colorful book is based on a true story of rubber ducks being lost at sea and drifting until they made landfall. It begins in a factory where rubber ducks are made. It follows the ducks as they are being shipped. They end up on a cargo ship. A storm washes a box of ducks overboard. There are ten. The book follows each duck as it drifts away. Carle uses ordinal numbers 1 st - 10 th when telling where each duck goes. Extra! The 10 th Rubber Duck on the last page quacks when you press it. Teaching Ideas for Kindergarten Language Arts: Students use 10 duck cut outs or actual rubber ducks and cut outs of other animals in the story to retell it. NCSCS 3.04 Use speaking and listening skills and media to connect experiences to text: discussing, illustrating, and dramatizing stories. Teaching Ideas for Kindergarten Math: Use ducks numbered Have students line up 1 st - 10 th to show the relationship between the numeral and the ordinal number. Play a game, calling out directions like: the person with the third duck turn around one time; the person with the eighth duck jump up and down, etc. Use ducks labeled with ordinal numbers. Hand out ducks randomly. Ask for certain ducks to stand or sit. Ask for students to arrange themselves in order according to what duck they have. NCSCS 1.01 e. Use ordinals (1 st -10 th )

“Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” Said the Sloth Summary: In this book, set in the Amazon rain forest, the sloth does everything slowly while hanging from a tree. Other animals who live there ask him why he is so slow and quiet and boring. The sloth does not answer. Finally, a jaguar asks him why he is so lazy. The sloth responds with many descriptors of his slow behavior but does not agree that he is lazy. He says this is just the way he is. Teaching Ideas for Kindergarten This book would be terrific to kick off a unit about animals in the Amazon rain forest. Science: The class could research the animals from the book (which are labeled on the end pages), as well as others, that live there. NCSCS 1.01 Observe and describe the similarities and differences among animals including: movement Math: Find out how other animals from the book move and sort them into categories, like fast and slow. NCSCS 5.01 Sort and classify objects by one attribute. Writing: Examine the words the sloth used to explain his slowness, choose another animal you have researched and use the poetic page from the book as a template to write about that animal. The class could write a nonfiction book about one of the animals that have been researched. The class could write fiction about an animal that was researched using the whole book as a template. NCSCS 4.01 Use new vocabulary in own speech and writing Write and/or participate in writing behaviors by using authors' models of language. Art: Have students to paint paper, cut and tear it to make illustrations for the books the class has written in the same fashion that Eric Carle does. Carle uses tissue paper as shown in the slideshows. I would use art paper or finger-paint paper with young students and let students cut out the shapes they want with scissors or tear the paper Social Studies/Science Find the Amazon rain forest on the globe and a map. Read the foreword by Jane Goodall and discuss how the depletion of the Amazon rain forest is affecting animal habitats.

The Mixed Up Chameleon Summary The Mixed Up Chameleon begins with a chameleon that is just doing its thing, hanging out, changing colors, sitting, and watching for flies to come by, so that it can eat. Then, it sees animals in a zoo. It wishes to become like the animals there. Each time, parts from that animal are added to it, but it is never happy. At the end, the chameleon wishes to become itself again. Interesting Facts This book came about as the synthesis of two experiences. First, Mr. Carle had visited classrooms and he “worked” on a book about favorite animals. The children gave suggestions as he drew. They were calling out ideas. He was drawing quickly. The animals got put together. The children thought it was hilarious. Second, Mr. Carle went to a zoo to sketch animals. He was watching a chameleon and wondered what might happen if it could change more than its color. The ideas somehow melded together and this is the resulting book. After the chameleon wishes to become like an animal, Eric Carle drew a picture of that animal on the edge of the page. The first on is at the top, and they progress to the bottom by the end. The remaining pages are cut out on the edge so that the reader can see each animal. Each animal is a different color. On the last page the chameleon is standing under a rainbow with colors that correspond to the animals. In fact, they appear to be coming from them. Language Arts: Review Colors. Each animal is a different color. NCSCS 4.03 Use words that describe color, size, and location in a variety of texts: Social Studies: Ask why the chameleon wants to change.. Examine the qualities he sees in the other animals. Does that make them special? What is unique about the chameleon? Why is he special? Why does he wish to be himself? Relate this to people, particularly students. Take some pictures of different students and mix up features. Is that the person we know? It could be done by hand or with Photoshop: 1-drag the two pictures into one image making each in a single layer 2-resize to fit 3-reduce the transparency of the upper layer to see both faces in the same time 4-you can erase some parts of one face(say eyes)with the nose of the other face...etc... ( Make a list of students. Have the class come up with something special about each student. NCSCS 1.01 Describe how individuals are unique and valued.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Summary A tiny, very hungry caterpillar is born. Throughout a week he eats and grows. He starts out eating fruit. Then, he eats so much junk that he gets a stomach ache. After that, he returns to caterpillar food (a leaf). He forms a cocoon, and finally, comes out a beautiful butterfly. Extras The fruit pictures are staggered narrowest page to widest page. The pages that have food have die cut holes to mimic the hole a caterpillar would chew. Teaching Ideas for Kindergarten Math/Language Arts Learn the sequence of the days of the week and of the story. Make cut outs representing each page (leaf with egg, tiny caterpillar, sun, one apple, two pears, etc.) Have students use the props to retell the story. NCSCS Math 2.02 Recognize concepts of calendar time using appropriate vocabulary (days of the week, months of the year, seasons). Language Arts 3.04 Use speaking and listening skills and media to connect experiences to text: discussing, illustrating, and dramatizing stories. Math Use cut outs to make sets of fruit. Match a numeral to each set and put them in numerical order. Count all food to find the total items that the caterpillar ate. Use addition terms when discussing NCSCS 1.01 Develop number sense for whole numbers through 30 b. Count objects in a set. d. Compare and order sets and numbers. Science Read this book during a unit of study of the butterfly life cycle. Attain a monarch egg. (In NC, a good time to find eggs is mid to late August. You can find them on the underside of milkweed leaves. The milkweed plant grows at the edge of fields, many times just off the side of the road.) Observe the “real” caterpillar. Read nonfiction books about the butterfly life cycle. Compare and contrast the real caterpillar with Eric Carle’s caterpillar. NCSCS 1.01 Observe and describe the similarities and differences among animals including: structure; growth; changes; movement Observe how animals interact with their surroundings. Use illustrations and cut-outs to discuss the types of food that the caterpillar ate. Healthful Living Use illustrations and cut outs to discuss the types of food that the caterpillar ate. Classify as healthy/unhealthy. Sort cut outs into those categories. NCSCS 4.02 Explore a variety of foods and beverages for good health, including unfamiliar and culturally diverse foods.

Books by Eric Carle New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Books of the Year selection, 1969, for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Outstanding Children's Books of the Year selection, 1974, for My Very First Library; Deutscher Jugendpreis, for 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo! and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, both 1970, and 1972, for Do You Want to Be My Friend?; first prize for picture books, International Children's Book Fair, 1970, for 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo!, 1972, for Do You Want to Be My Friend?, and for Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me; Children's Book of the Year awards, Child Study Association, 1977, for Do You Want to Be My Friend?, The Very Busy Spider, and The Very Lonely Firefly; American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) awards, both 1970, for Pancakes, Pancakes and The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Grand Prix des Treize selection, 1972, for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and for Do You Want to Be My Friend? and Have You Seen My Cat?, both 1973; Nakamori Reader's Prize, 1975, for The Very Hungry Caterpillar; AIGA certificate of excellence, 1981, for The Honeybee and the Robber; silver medal from the city of Milan, Italy, awarded 1989 for The Very Quiet Cricket; Heinrich-Wolgast prize, German Education and Science Union, 1996, for My Apron; Medallion award, University of Southern Mississippi, 1997; medallion from DeGrumond Collection, University of Southern Mississippi, 1997; best book award, 1997, for From Head to Toe, and platinum book award, 1999, for You Can Make a Collage, both from Oppenheim Toy Portfolio; Regina Medal, Catholic Library Association, 1999; Outstanding Friend of Children award, Pittsburgh Children's Museum, 1999; Literary Lights for Children award, Boston Public Library, 2000; Japan Picture Book Awards translation winner, 2000, for Hello, Red Fox ; Officer's Cross, Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 2001; Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, American Library Association, Also recipient of numerous other awards, including awards from New York Art Directors Show, New York Type Directors Show, Society of Illustrators Show, Best Book Jacket of the Year Show, and Carnegie Award for Excellence in Video for Children. Notable citations, including Child Study Association citation, 1970, for Pancakes, Pancakes; American Library Association (ALA) notable book, for The Very Busy Spider, and 1971, for Do You Want to Be My Friend?; 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing selection, for The Very Quiet Cricket, and Gift List selections, 1971, for Do You Want to Be My Friend?, and 1972, for Secret Birthday Message, all from New York Public Library; ALA notable book, for The Very Busy Spider, and 1971, for Do You Want to Be My Friend?; Brooklyn Museum of Art citation, 1973, for The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children designation, for A House for Hermit Crab; National Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies designation, 1977, for The Grouchy Ladybug; Children's Choices award, Children's Book Council, for The Very Lonely Firefly, 1984, for Brown Bear, Brown Bear (both with International Reading Association) and 1987, for Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me; Parents Choice award, 1986, for Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, and 1988, for The Mixed-up Chameleon (paperback); Jane Addams Children's Book Honorary Award, 1987, for All in a Day; Booklist Children's Editor's Choice designation, for Animals, Animals, and Best Books of the '80s choice, for The Very Busy Spider, both 1989; Parenting magazine certificate of excellence, 1989, for Animals, Animals; California Children's Book and Video award, 1990, for The Very Quiet Cricket (picture book category); Redbook top ten children's books of the year, 1989, for Animals, Animals, and 1990, for The Very Quiet Cricket; Parents magazine Best Kid's Books award, 1989, for Animals, Animals, and 1995, for The Very Lonely Firefly; Buckeye Children's Book Award, Ohio Council of the International Reading Association, 1993, for The Very Quiet Cricket; Association of Booksellers Children Bookseller's Choices award, 1995, for The Very Hungry Caterpillar board book; David McCord Children's Literature citation, Framingham State College/Nobscot Reading Council of the International Reading Association, 1995; The Very Lonely Firefly named a Kansas City Reading Circle selection, 1996; National Parenting Publications award, 1998, for You Can Make a Collage; Bank Street College Best Books award, 1998, for Hello, Red Fox; numerous titles selected for American Bookseller's Pick of the List. Additional awards for The Very Busy Spider include Library of Congress Advisory Committee recommended title; Best Books for Children selection, R. R. Bowker and Co.; Children's Editor's choice, Booklist; Horn Book Fanfair title; California Reading Initiative title. The Very Hungry Caterpillar named Book of the Year by the California Reading Initiative, and named among England's best books, Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me was awarded the gold medal during the Bratslavia Biennial of Illustration. Recipient of honorary degrees from College of Our Lady the Elms, Chicopee, MA, and Niagara University, Niagara, NY.

Eric Carle’s Awards (listed on his website)

A Comprehensive List of Eric Carle’s Awards

Carle, Eric. (1987) Have You Seen My Cat? New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks. Carle, Eric. (1997) From Head to Toe. New York, NY: Scholastic. Carle, Eric. (1993) Today Is Monday. New York, NY: Philomel Books. Carle, Eric. (1968,1987) 1, 2, 3, To the Zoo. New York, NY: The Putnam & Grosset Group. Carle, Eric. (2005) 10 Little Rubber Ducks. New York, NY: HarperCollinsPublishers. Carle, Eric. (2002) “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” Said the Sloth. New York, NY: Philomel Books. Carle, Eric. (1975, 1984) The Mixed Up Chameleon. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. Carle, Eric. (1969, 1987) The Very Hungry Caterpillar. New York, NY: Philomel Books. Something About the Author. Vol Detroiit: Gale, p ined&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=34782l38313l0l10l10l0l0l0l0l656l1171l5-2l2 References