An Interview with Eric Carle

Children’s book author and illustrator

Forty years ago, “in the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf.” It hatched, of course, into The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a well-loved children’s book that has sold more than 12 million copies in more than 20 languages. Its author and artist, Eric Carle, celebrated its 40th anniversary and his own 80th birthday this year.

Photo by Philipp Wente

Tell us about the teachers in your life who made a difference.

You know I was born in Syracuse, New York, and I had a wonderful, first-class kindergarten teacher who discovered my love for art. She called in my mother and emphasized that they should nurture that talent. That was a very important message.
We went to Germany when I was six and I started school there, too. The first four years I don’t remember at all in terms of art, except that it was small sheets of paper. In Syracuse, we had large sheets. In Germany, we had small sheets, a hard pencil, a rule and “don’t make any mistakes!” that kind of thing.

In high school, I had a wonderful teacher. This was during the Nazi time, but this wonderful teacher introduced me to so-called ‘degenerate’ art -- Impressionistic, abstract, that kind of thing. We did that secretly because it was forbidden to show it. That made the biggest impact on me.

If you were an art teacher, what would your class look like?

When I was an art student, we painted colorful paints, all kinds of colors on sheets of paper, and that way we accumulated a nice collection of color. Then we tore out shapes, cut out shapes, made collages. It’s not so important that right away you go ahead and do houses and animals. The children could make birds or elephants, if they like, but I’m not saying to do anything. If you just do abstract shapes and squares and you play with them, it would be a wonderful thing.

Some schools I’ve been to, they collect all kinds of discarded things -- wools and papers and sticks and stones. They make collages out of that and I think that’s wonderful, rather than sitting a child down and saying, “Now draw a tree!” Maybe the child is not in the mood to draw a tree!

You’ve been living with this little caterpillar for 40 years! Tell us what you think about the little guy now -- and why do you imagine he has been such a popular icon for children?

I don’t give it much thought really! It’s something I did, one of my books. I feel like children identify with [this] small, insignificant, ugly, little caterpillar -- because we are born little and ugly and helpless. [But then we grow up. And we have our own families and our own homes.] And that is the message of the caterpillar, to grow from an insignificant ugly thing into a beautiful butterfly flying into the world. It’s hope and encouragement. I think that’s what’s behind the caterpillar.

It’s a wonderful message, isn’t it?

COMMENTS:

1 - 10 out of 10 Comments |Add your comment

kobe shoes | 2011/04/20

http://www.kobeshoes.org

carlos spicy weiner | 2010/05/25

you rock

bob | 2010/04/23

i wasnt ugly

tasha wostal from lago vista =] | 2010/04/20

your books are so great!!!and i felt i needed to leave a comment cuz its been a while!have a great daayy..weekk..month..lifee!! -tasha

Shelli Speakman | 2009/08/09

I grew up reading your wonderful, colorful books and now I have the joy of reading them to my own children and to the students in my multiple handicaps class. Thank you for the fantastic stories!

Joan | 2009/08/08

I'm a retired Kinder teacher who use all your books in class~~~~~~and now my granddaughter teaches pre-school and she is using my books with her students!!!! Thanks for being a part of our lives! `````````

Mary Beth | 2009/08/06

Mr. Carle we use you as an inspiration for creating portraits of insects. The Multi Age 1-2 students use your technique to creatively show what they know about the scientific side of insects!

Tamara Thomason from Georgia | 2009/07/30

Mr. Carle, Thank you so much for your books. We evaluated your website and online museum using a LCD projector so that the website was projected on the wall at West Jackson Primary School (PreK-2. The students loved it. I followed up with a wide array of art projects with the students using your many books as inspiration. It will stay with them for a lifetime. I even was fortunate enough to have a few future "Eric Carles" in my classroom last year. Many more years to you sir. Art is more important than ever for my students during the current economic crises. There are topics that can be expressed through art that cannot be expressed in words as you know. God Bless and please look us up if you're ever in Georgia!

Maria Jackson | 2009/07/30

May you continue your creations for many more years to come, Mr. Carle. Your books have always inspired my students. We love your books! I was formerly a regular elementary classroom teacher, but now I teach Spanish at an IB magnet elementary school. I'm fortunate to team teach with the Art teacher during my kindergartens' class. We use the Very Hungry Caterpillar during one of our lessons. Happy 80th and thank you for your wonderful works.

ana | 2009/07/30

I'm a prek teacher and in my class of the themes is Eric Carlre. The first book we read is The Very Hungry caterpillar. We do it the way you create your drawings. My children and other staff love it.