Eric Carle By: Brianna Wingen

Background information… Eric Carle was born in Sycruse, New York in 1929 and moved to Germany with his parents when he was six. Carle started drawing when he was a young boy, and has said that he will always be a scribbler. He learned German and went to school at the Academy of Visual Arts

Background continued… While living in Germany, he always dreamed of returning to America In 1952 he returned to New York and got a job as a graphic designer at an advertising agency. Today Carle lives in Massachusetts with his wife Bobbie. They have a cat named Annie. He also has two grown children, Cirsten and Rolf.

Eric Carle is a well known Children’s author. Carle is well know for his children’s books The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969) and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (1967). He has written over 70 books, and he has illustrated many of them.

The Famous “Mistake” The famous “mistake” is found in The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This mistake is that the caterpillar emerges from a cocoon instead of a chrysalis. Carle’s editor contacted a scientist and the scientist said that in this case it was okay for the term cocoon to be used instead of chrysalis.

Here is a link of Eric Carle reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Author and an Illustrator Carle is not only an author, he is also an illustrator and has illustrated children’s books such as Why Noah Chose the Dove (1974)and The Greedy Python (1985). Carle has also illustrated many of his own books.

Inspirations for his books… When asked where he gets his ideas for his books he credited his Uncle August for winding up the thinking machine when coming up with ideas for a story. Carle said, "I'd say, 'Uncle August, tell me a story.' Peering over his glasses he'd say, 'First you have to wind up my thinking machine.' And, as I had done many times before, I began to wind an imaginary lever near his temple. After a little while, all along he had made whirring noises, he shouted, 'Halt! I have a story for you!'" Eric says, "I like my Uncle August's answer to where stories come from. They come from your thinking machine. All you have to do is wind it up.“ (scholastic.com).

Books by Eric Carle

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