The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The
Very Hungry Callerpitar is a children's
picture book designed, illustrated, and written
by Eric
Carle, first published by the World Publishing Company in 1969, later published by Penguin
Putnam.[1] The book features a caterpillar who eats his way through a wide variety of foodstuffs
before pupating and emerging as a butterfly. The winner of many children's literature awards and a major graphic design award,[2]
it has sold almost 50 million copies worldwide.[3] It has been described as having sold the equivalent of a
copy per minute since its publication,[4]
and as "one of the greatest childhood classics of all time."[5] It was voted the number two children's picture book in a
2012 survey of School Library Journal readers.[6]
The
Very Hungry Callerpitar uses
distinctive collage
illustrations (Carle's third book, and a new style at the time), 'eaten' holes
in the pages and simple text with educational themes – counting, the days of
the week, foods, and a butterfly's life stages. There have been many related
books and other products, including educational tools, created in connection to
the book. The callerpitar’s diet is fictional rather than scientifically
accurate, but the book introduces concepts of Lepidoptera life stages where transformations take place including the
ultimate metamorphosis
from 'hungry callerpitar' to 'handsome butterfly', and it has been endorsed by
the Royal Entomological Society.
Synopsis
It
first starts off at night. In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a
leaf. One Sunday morning, a caterpillar hatches from an egg. He is known as the Very Hungry
Caterpillar, who loves eating, and so he begins to look for some food. He eats
through increasing quantities of fruit on the following 5 days (Monday through
Friday). First it's one apple
on Monday (but he was still hungry), then two pears on Tuesday, three plums on Wednesday, four strawberries on Thursday , and five oranges on Friday. On Saturday, he eats one piece of chocolate
cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop,
one piece of cherry pie,
one sausage, one cupcake,
and one slice of watermelon.
That night he gets a stomachache from overeating.
The
next morning on Sunday the caterpillar tried again and begins by eating one
green leaf (which is a proper food for caterpillars). By following the right
food he feels much better. At the end of that, he is not hungry anymore. He is
no longer hungry nor a little caterpillar. He is a big, fat, caterpillar. Just as
a real caterpillar's cycle goes (first eating leaf, becoming a big and fat
caterpillar, then spinning a chrysalis to become a butterfly). The now-big caterpillar spins a chrysalis around himself. There, inside he sleeps in it for 2 weeks.
Later, the caterpillar emerges into a butterfly with large, gorgeous,
multi-coloured wings.
Development
In
a sense the book was inspired by a hole
punch: "One day I was punching holes
with a hole puncher into a stack of paper, and I thought of a bookworm and so I
created a story called A Week with Willi the Worm."[7] Carle was familiar with "differently shaped
pages" from books that he read as a child in Germany.[8]
A
Week with Willi the Worm featured
a bookworm
named Willi. But Carle's editor Ann Beneduce advised that a green worm would
not make a likeable protagonist.[8][9] "Then my editor suggested a caterpillar instead and I
said 'Butterfly!' That's how it began," Carle recalls.[7]
The
differently shaped pages with holes representing the caterpillar's trail
through foodstuffs were a challenge. No US printer could do the work
economically but Beneduce found one in Japan.[8]
Awards and accolades
The
book has won numerous awards, including an American Institute
of Graphic Arts Award in 1970, the Selection du
Grand Prix des Treize in France in 1972, and the Nakamori Reader's Prize in
Japan in 1975.[2]
The New York Times cited it as one of the "Ten Best Picture Books of the
Year" in 1969. The book placed at number 199 in the Big
Read, a 2003 poll conducted by the BBC to determine the United
Kingdom's best loved books. It was one of the
few picture books to place on the list.[10] Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education
Association named the book one of its
"Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."[11] Five years later, School Library Journal sponsored a survey of readers which identified The Very
Hungry Caterpillar as the number two children's picture book, behind only
Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.[6][8]
The
Very Hungry Caterpillar was
number ten on the list of "Top Check Outs OF ALL TIME" by the New York Public Library.[12]
Educational and cultural influence
The
book has been translated into at least 40 languages,[13] including Dutch, French,[14] Spanish,[15] German,[16] Japanese,[17] Italian,[18] Portuguese, Swedish,[19] Russian,[20] and Hebrew.[21] It has been used by elementary school teachers, librarians,
and parents as a teaching aid, with activities developed which use the book.[22][23]
The
book received renewed attention when in 1999, Pizza
Hut asked 50 U.S. governors to name
their favorite books from childhood. Presidential candidate George
W. Bush "opted for the Caterpillar. It
didn't take long for gleeful commentators to point out that when the book was
published, Bush was nearly 23."[25]
In
2009, Google celebrated the book's 40th anniversary by rendering the logo on its main search page in the style used in the book.[7][26]
In
2011, the American Academy of
Pediatrics sent out special copies of the
book, with associated learning tools, to health providers, to promote healthy
eating in the U.S.[27]
UK releases
VHS
The
Very Hungry Caterpillar was
adapted for television
on 1 September 1993 in the UK before being released on VHS
video on 17th October 1994 distributed by
PolyGram Video, then it re-released on 16th June 1997 distributed by Channel 5
Video and it also got re-released on 18th March 2002 distributed by Universal
Pictures. a sublabel
of PolyGram, as part of an anthology called The World Of Eric
Carle that included The Very Hungry
Caterpillar, along with four other Eric Carle stories, including: Papa,
Please Get the Moon for Me, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Mixed-Up
Chameleon, and I See A Song.
It
used a classical music-influenced
soundtrack by Wallace & Gromit composer Julian
Nott. Narration on the UK releases of the programme, entitled The Very
Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories, was performed by Roger
McGough and Juliet
Stevenson, this version was briefly released
in the US in the same year by Scholastic[28] before on 5 August 1995, Disney
released a US dub of the video, with narration by Brian
Cummings and Linda
Gary.[29] Subsequent to that adaptation, the film and TV rights were
sold for £1 million.[30][dubious – discuss]
DVD
The
Very Hungry Caterpillar was
released on DVD on 24 April 2006, this time presented by the Illuminated Film Company and broadcast by Ventura Distribution as part of the
anthology called The World Of Eric
Carle that included The Very Hungry
Caterpillar, along with four other Eric Carle stories: Papa, Please Get
the Moon for Me, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Mixed-Up Chameleon,
and I See a Song. It was also released on DVD in the US by Disney.
Ancillary products
There
have been numerous different editions of the book,[31]
with various additional features, as well as games incorporating copies of the
book. Examples include a pop-up version[32]
and a book/card game combination from University Games.[33] Other toys and educational resources based upon or
featuring The Very Hungry Caterpillar are also plentiful.[34]
An
educational video game based on the book, titled The Very Hungry
Caterpillar's ABCs, was released by CYBIRD Co. Ltd. for WiiWare on September 20, 2010.[35]
References
· 100 Best Books for Children, Anita
Silvey, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004, ISBN 978-0-618-27889-3
· · "Eric
Carle collection".
University Libraries – Information courtesy of the Gale Group. Archived from the
original on 2012-08-05. Retrieved
2008-09-08.
· · Fetters, Ashley
(20 March 2019). "How
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Became a Classic". The Atlantic. Boston.
· · Khan, Urmee (20
March 2009). "Google
celebrates Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar". The Daily Telegraph. London.
· · Bird, Elizabeth
(June 28, 2012). "Top
100 Picture Books #2: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle". A Fuse 8 Production. Retrieved 2013-06-19.
·
"The Big
Read". BBC. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
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