Eric Carle, whose 1969 book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” became one of the bestselling children’s titles of all time, has passed away at the age of 91.
Carle “passed away peacefully and surrounded by family members on May 23, 2021 at his summer studio in Northampton, Massachusetts,” a family statement said.
The Syracuse, New York native didn’t start is literary career until he was 40, but would go on to write and illustrate over 70 children’s books.
NPR provided more about the author’s life and career, and how Carle’s father was his inspiration.
“I think it started with my father. He took me for long walks and explained things to me,” he told NPR in 2007. The elder Carle pointed out foxholes, spiderwebs and bird nests, opening his son’s eyes to the beauties and mysteries in a child’s landscape. But Carle’s immigrant parents decided to return home to Germany — his mother was homesick — and they arrived just in time for World War II.
Carle headed straight back to the U.S. after graduating from art school at age 23 and was immediately hired by The New York Times. He fell in love with the impressionists (“color, color, color!”), served in the U.S. military during the Korean War, and, upon his return, moved into advertising.
Perhaps that career helped him prepare for using the simple, resonant language of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. For the book’s 50th anniversary in 2019, professor Michelle H. Martin told NPR that The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s writing helps little kids grasp concepts such as numbers and the days of the week. (“On Monday he ate through one apple. But he was still hungry. On Tuesday he ate through two pears, but he was still hungry.”)
Carle, who first illustrated the 1967 children’s book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by his friend Bill Martin Jr., wanted The Very Hungry Caterpillar to serve as a literary cocoon for children getting ready for kindergarten. As little kids prepare to leave the warmth and safety of home for school, they’re meant to identify with beautiful, soaring butterflies.
“I think it is a book of hope,” Carle said in a commemorative video released by Penguin Random House in 2019. Then 89 and retired at his Florida home, he was wearing black suspenders and a blue shirt matching his lively eyes. “Children need hope. You, little insignificant caterpillar, can grow up into a beautiful butterfly and fly into the world with your talent. Will I ever be able to do that? Yes, you will. I think that is the appeal of that book.
In 2002, Carle and his second wife, Barbara, founded the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Mass, inspired by the picture book museums they’d toured on visits to Japan. Barbara Carle died in 2015. Eric Carle is survived by his sister and two adult children from his first marriage.
This YouTube video eatures an interview with Eric Carle, as he discusses his life and his books.
Our condolences to his family, friends, and fans.