Thursday, November 1, 2012

Thursday Book Club - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This week Little Miss 4 has chosen The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle for us to review.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar starts off life as a little egg that lays on a leaf and one Sunday morning...POP, out comes the caterpillar and he starts looking for food.

During the days of the week he eats through an apple, pears, plums, strawberries, oranges, cake ice-cream cone, pickle, cheese, salami, lollipop, cherry pie, sausage, cupcake and watermelon.....needless to say he ends up with a stomach ache!

It is Sunday again and the caterpillar eats through a nice green leaf and feels much better.....he was now a big, fat caterpillar. He builds a cocoon and stays inside for more than two weeks, later emerging as a beautiful butterfly.


This story is beautifully illustrated and helps teach kids the days of the week, counting and that eating too many sweets isn't good for you. It also teaches kids some scientific content - the life cycle of a caterpillar.

When I asked Little Miss 4 what she liked about this book, she said "I like how it lays on the leaf in the moonlight and when the caterpillar changes into a butterfly because it has beautiful wings."

It was written in 1969 and is targeted at 2-4 year olds. According to Eric Carle's website, it has been translated into more than 50 languages and sold over 33 million copies.

Eric Carle, who was born in New York in 1969, has written over 70 books and generally he is both the author and illustrator. Some of his other books are The Very Busy Spider, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Lonely FireFly and The Very Clumsy Click Beetle. He also has a blog, if you want to check it out - http://www.ericcarleblog.blogspot.com.au/.

Do you have a favourite Eric Carle book?


Image from here.


4 comments:

  1. Oh this one is such a wonderful classic, I can understand perfectly why Little Miss 4 has chosen it this week. It was one of the first picture books I bought for my first child. Did you know that Eric Carle even has an FB page!!

    One of my absolute favourites though, has to be one I recently discovered - Dream Snow - gorgeous picture book with a Christmas theme.

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    1. Hi Emma, I hadn't heard of Dream Snow but looked it up and I must get it for Christmas.
      I will also have to check out his FB page :) I think he is a great author/illustrator for kids.

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  2. Timeless classic this one. We have the board game too which is fun and easy for the little ones too.

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    1. I didn't know there was a board game! Little Miss 4 would love that....off to Google I go :)

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