Eric Carle, the beloved childrens author and illustrator whose classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other works gave millions of kids some of their earliest and most cherished literary memories, has died at age 91.
Carle’s family says he died Sunday (local time) at his summer studio in Northampton, Massachusetts, US with family members at his side. The family’s announcement was issued by Penguin Young Leaders.
Through books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?,Do You Want to Be My Friend? and From Head to Toe, Carle introduced universal themes in simple words and bright colours.
The unknown often brings fear with it, he once observed. In my books I try to counteract this fear, to replace it with a positive message. I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn. I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun.
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar, published in 1969, was welcomed by parents and delighted kids with its story of the metamorphosis of a green and red caterpillar with a touch of blue and brown to a proudly multicoloured butterfly.
Originally conceived as a book about a bookworm called A Week with Willie Worm the hero, who eats through 26 different foods, was changed to a caterpillar on the advice of his editor. It has sold some 40 million copies and has been translated into 60 languages, spawned stuffed animal caterpillars and has been turned into a stage play.
I remember that as a child, I always felt I would never grow up and be big and articulate and intelligent, Carle told The New York Times in 1994. Caterpillar is a book of hope: you, too, can grow up and grow wings.
Eric Carle reads his classic children’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” on the NBC “Today” television program in New York on October 9, 2009.
Politicians like George W Bush and Hillary Clinton were known to read the book to children on the campaign trail. The American Academy of Pediatrics sent more than 17,000 paediatricians special copies of the book, along with growth charts and parent handouts on healthy eating. Fellow writer and illustrator Ted Dewan called the book one of the pillars of childrens culture. Its almost talking about how great the Beatles were. Its beyond reproach, he said.
Carle wrote and-or illustrated more than 75 books, sometimes partnering with Bill Martin Jr or other authors, but most with Carle working alone. One of his last books was 2015s The Nonsense Show, which centered on a parade of flying fish, cat-taming mice and circus animals.
Born to German immigrant parents in Syracuse, New York, Carle and his family returned to Germany Nazi Germany, at the time when he was 6. Under the Nazis, modern, expressionistic and abstract art was banned and only realistic and naturalistic art was permitted.
When Carle was 12 or 13, a high school art teacher would change his life by inviting him to his home, where he secretly showed his expressionist art, including Franz Marcs Blue Horse.
I was used to pretty paintings with a mountain in the background. Although I was shocked, I always carried that day in my heart, Carle told NPR in 2011. As an illustrator, he said he chose to portray animals in unconventional colours to show his young readers that in art, there is no wrong colour. He thanked Marc in the pages of The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse.
Eric Carle reads from “Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?” in 2007. The beloved childrens author and illustrator whose classic works gave millions of kids some of their earliest and most cherished literary memories, has died.
His signature illustration technique was done by piecing pictures together chiefly from tissue paper that he had painted with various colours and textures. It sounds corny, but I think I connect with the child in me, and I think others do, too, he told The Associated Press in 2003.
His father introduced him to the wonders of the living creatures that he would later immortalise in his books. When I was a small child, as far back as I can remember, he would take me by the hand and we would go out in nature, he told The New York Times in 1994. And he would show me worms and bugs and bees and ants and explain their lives to me. It was a very loving relationship.
The theme of kids mastering the world was tackled in other tales of critters with very big predicaments: The Very Busy Spider, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Lonely Firefly and Friends. The love of family was explored in such books as Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, 1986; and Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? from 2000.
After graduating from a leading German art school, he returned to the United States in 1952. He worked as a graphic designer in the promotion department of The New York Times before switching to advertising.
It was Martin who spotted Carles talents and brought him into the publishing field. Carle was working as an art director for an advertising agency at the time; Martin had just written Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and needed an illustrator.
While waiting for a dentist appointment, I came across an ad he had done that featured a Maine lobster, Martin, who died in 2004, told the AP in 2003. The art was so striking that I knew instantly that I had found my artist!
When Carle was 12 or 13, a high school art teacher would change his life by inviting him to his home, where he secretly showed his expressionist art, including Franz Marcs Blue Horse.
The book, which introduces colours and animals to young readers, came out in 1967 and became a perennial bestseller. Their other joint works were 1991s Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? and 2003s Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?
In 2002, Carle and his late wife, Barbara Carle, founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Based in Amherst, Massachusetts, the nonprofit, 3716-square-metre arts centre is a showcase for picture book illustrations from around the world. He received lifetime achievement awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Library Association.
He is survived by a son and a daughter.
AP National Writer Hillel Italie contributed to this story.
