Eric Carle

Carolina Gonzalez Torres

Sabrina Fakhoury
Treniquii Kail
Xenia Myers
 Eric Carle
● Born on June 25, 1929 in Syracuse, New York.
● When Carle was six, his parents moved back to their native Germany
● As a young boy, Carle loved taking walks with his father and learning
about nature. (which later influences his books and illustrations of
animals and nature) But when he was 10, World War II started and his
father was drafted into the army.
● Over the next six years, him and his family endured many hardships.
Carle's neighborhood was bombed by the Allies and his father did not
return home for years. Yet amidst the chaos of the war, Carle pursued
his love for art with the support of a high school art teacher.
● In 1952 he graduated from a prestigious art school, the Akademie der
bildenden Künste, in Stuttgart.
● After he graduated he moved back to New York with only $40 in his
pocket and soon gained a job as a graphic designer for the New York
Times.
● Later, he was the art director of an advertising agency for many years.
Eric Carle
● One day, respected educator and author, Bill Martin Jr, called to ask
Carle to illustrate a story he had written. Martin’s eye had been
caught by a striking picture of a red lobster that Carle had created
for an advertisement.
● Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was the result of
their collaboration.
● This was the beginning of Eric Carle’s true career. Soon Carle was
writing his own stories, too. His first wholly original book was 1,2,3
to the Zoo, followed soon afterward by the celebrated classic, The
Very Hungry Caterpillar.
● It has now been translated into 33 languages and sold over 18
million copies worldwide.
● Now Eric Carle has two grown-up children, a son, Rolf, and a
daughter, Cirsten. (both studied art)
● His wife Bobbie unfortunately died in 2015.
● He currently lives with his cat Annie in Massachusetts.
 Interview
http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/carle

● What does one learn about the author from this interview?
○ Since Eric Carle had a hard time understanding many things in school, he likes everything to be simplified
especially for young readers. That is why most, if not all, his books are easy-to-read, simple books.
○ Eric started his career as a graphic designer and later was an art director for an advertising agency.
● How does the author get his ideas?
○ Eric Carle gets his ideas through exploring nature and just looking at simple things/ creatures and make a
story out of it.
○ He says that most of his ideas come from him “fooling around” i.e. just flipping over a rock, and seeing a
worm slithering around, he imagines a story.
● Is the author working on any new stories?
○ Nothing specifically states if he is writing a new story at the moment or not.
● What advice does the author have for young writers?
○ Eric Carle refers to his “thinking machine” (brain) and all we have to do is wind up that machine and throw
something out there, you don’t know if it will be something awesome or not if you don’t try.
 Eric Carle Books
Eric Carle has continued to publish children's books almost every year
including more than 57 titles; equaling more than 70 books.

Bill Martins books: (illustrated by Eric Carle):

● Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

● Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
● Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?
● Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?

“My Very First Book of” Series:

● My Very First Book of Home ● My Very First Book of Motion

● My Very First Book of Sounds ● My Very First Book of Animal Sounds
● My Very First Book of Words ● My Very First Book of Animal Homes
● My Very First Book of Colors ● My Very First Book of Food
● My Very First Book of Shapes ● My Very First Book of Heads and Tails
● My Very First Book of Numbers ● My Very First Library
 Eric Carle Books
● The Very Hungry Caterpillar
● The Very Busy Spider
● The Grouchy Ladybug
● From Head to Toe
● The Very Quiet Cricket
● The Very Lonely Firefly
● Animals Animals
● Mister Seahorse
● Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me
● The Tiny Seed
● The Mixed-Up Chameleon
● A House for Hermit Crab
● Have You Seen My Cat
● Little Cloud
● Do You Want to Be My Friend
● 1,2,3 to the Zoo
● Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother,
Too?
● 10 Little Rubber Ducks
● Catch the Ball
● Pancakes, Pancakes!
● ABC
● My Apron A Story from my Childhood ● Where are you Going? To See My
● Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrations Friend!
● Today Is Monday ● I See A Song!
● Dream Snow ● All Around Us
● The Secret Birthday Message ● Watch Out! A Giant!
● The Very Clumsy Click Beetle ● Flora and Tiger
● Treasury of Classic Stories ● Shine with the Very Lonely
● Opposites Firefly
● Draw Me a Star ● The Art of Eric Carle
● Slowly, Slowly, said the Sloth ● Stories of All Seasons
● Hello, Red Fox ● Otter Nonsense
● Dragons, Dragons ● Around the Farm
● Walter the Baker ● Baby Animals
● The Greedy Python ● All About Arthur
● Rooster’s Off to See the World ● My Very Special Scrapbook
● What’s for Lunch? ● Friends
● The Rabbit and the Turtle ● What’s Your Favorite Animal?
● Storybook Collection: 7 Great ● The Nonsense Show
● Tell Time with the Very Busy Spider ● The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s
● Colors/Colores Christmas
● The Honeybee and the Robber ● How Things Grow
● Thank you, Brother Bear ● What’s Your Favorite Color?
Genres/Targeted Audience

Genres:

● Children Picture Books

○ Fiction/non fiction

Targeted Audience

● Audience is children
○ Ages 4-10
 Themes
Most of Eric Carle's characters are animals, and he thinks this might be his father's influence: when he
was growing up, Carle and his dad would go on walks in the forest. They would stop and observe all the
little animals and insects living there, and Carle's father would tell him about how they live and grow.
Growth and discovery are major themes in Carle's books. He says that moving from home to school
was “traumatic” for him, and he hopes that his books, many of which are not only beautifully illustrated
but have cutouts, flaps, raised textures, and lights and sound, are “half toy and half book” to show
young readers that growth and change can be a lot of fun.

Themes of author’s work / books as supported by specific examples:

● Tiny Seed
○ This book takes on the cycle of a flower, from a tiny seed to a full grown flower.
● The Very Hungry Caterpillar
○ This book takes on the journey of the caterpillar, from an egg laying in the sunlight
until it hatches.
 Analysis of Eric’s Writing
Literary element:

For the theme it is love and protection, the illustration is showing a connection between the mother and the child. For the point of view, it is showing
the illustration in a bird’s eye view. For the setting, it is clearly the ocean and a more natural setting.

Peritextual Element:

Eric Carle provides the reader with his playful end pages. The simple swooshes of his paint brush are a perfect beginning and representation of the
simple text that is presented within the book. His colors used are not only found within the illustrations in the book, but also refer to the nature and
calmness of the animals and theme.

The interplay of text and pictures:

When looking the text, it is really clear what exactly they are reading about. It also refers to the illustration. Also, it leads the reader to the next page.
 Analysis continued
Design Elements:

Starting off with Design elements, there are many different colors, lines, and shapes. Color, in the illustration there is mostly blue that just
means calmness, detachment, and serenity. In the book, the blue is the color if the dolphin identifying what is it is. Another color is green,
which means nature, calming, and peacefulness. In the illustration, it is showing the nature side and the peacefulness of nature. The last color
is yellow which means happiness, caution, and warmth. In the illustration that is shown by having yellow curvy lines. When looking at the line
in the picture there are many diagonal lines that mean there’s an action or a movement. In the illustration, it is the movement of the ocean.
When looking at shape, there are many curving edges that just means the illustration natural, organic, and life. In the picture, it means the
movement of the dolphin in a natural way. For texture, the illustrator uses different texture in the picture. For spacing, it is light happiness
and joyful. In the picture, it shows the happiness.

Medium/ Media:

The illustrator Eric Carle, has the elements of painting and college. In this picture, he used the technique of doing brush strokes of the color
blue, green, and yellow. He then used the element college by using different objects to make the dolphin. Lastly, he just combined both
elements.

Artistic Style:

In this illustration the artistic style that the illustrator used was impressionism. He gives the readers a natural look with the different
impressions to identify the main subject in the illustration. In this case, we see a dolphin and around it, there are different impressions. The
different impressions are curvy lives to show the movement of the ocean and the dolphin.
 Book Review
● Plot: The plot is about the main character, “Very Hungry Caterpillar” growing as he eats
and concludes by turning into a butterfly.
● Point of view: Limited Omniscient
● Setting: None (mostly just an a item of food and caterpillar on each page with white
background)
● Theme: Growth
● Mood: suspense(foreshadowing), mellow
● Visual Elements: Incorporates bright, primary colors, painting, collage technique, and
sharp angular shapes. This gives overall lighthearted, and organic tone.
● Text and picture interplay gives overall message of growth..
● Overall: Useful for beginner readers, helps with shapes, numbers, colors, and letters.
Contributions to Children’s Literature
● Eric Carle is an important figure because not only has he written and illustrated MANY
well-known titles, they have been translated in over 50 different languages.
○ This allows for diversity and lets other people who don’t necessarily know the
English language enjoy his books as well.
● He has helped teach many young readers about a lot of different topics and that helps
them be prepared when entering elementary school as well.
● Eric Carle has a Museum “The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art” in Massachusetts.
○ The mission of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, a non-profit
organization,is to inspire a love of art and reading
through picture books.
Illustrations and How They’re Made
“I make my pictures out of hand-painted tissue papers that I paint with acrylics. Then I
cut and tear these painted papers and glue them onto illustration board. My painted
papers are like my palette. There are many different mediums to work in; I just happen
to like collage. I enjoy the process of gluing the pieces down in a picture. I am very
interested in details, brushstrokes in a painting, and textures. So the process of
painting my tissue papers is very satisfying to me. Many children have also done
collages at home or in their classrooms. In fact, some children have said to me, “Oh, I
can do that.” I consider that the highest compliment.”

● First, he hand paints a variety of different colored tissue

paper.
● Then he draws out his characters.
● He places the paper over his drawings to carefully trace, then
cut out the desired shapes.
● Then he glues the cut shapes onto a white-board.
● Lastly the characters are born, and he repeats this process
with every character, page, and background of the
illustrations.
 Awards
Eric Carle has won multiple various awards for his work. Here is a list of just a
select few that he has won over the years.

- Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Literature Award presented by the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library, 2008
- Honorary Degree from Bates College, Lewiston, ME, 2007
- The NEA Foundation Award for Outstanding Service to Public Education, 2007
- John P. McGovern Award in Behavioral Sciences, Smithsonian Institution, 2006
- Laura Ingalls Wilder Award from the Association for Library Service to Children, American Library Association, 2003
- Honorary Degree from Niagara University, Niagara, NY, 2002
- Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 2001
- Honorary Degree from College of Our Lady the Elms, Chicopee, MA, 2001
- Japan Picture Book Award, Presented by Mainichi Newspaper for Lifetime Achievement, 2000
- Outstanding Friend of Children, Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, 1999
- Regina Medal, Catholic Library Association, 1999
- University of Southern Mississippi Medallion from DeGrumond Collection, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattisburg, MS,
1997
- The 1995 David McCord Children’s Literature Citation, Framingham State College + The Nobscot Reading Council of the
International Reading Association, 1995
- Silver Medal from the City of Milano, Italy, 1989
Websites
● Author’s website http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html

● Scholastic
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/eric-carle-author-study/

● Harpercollins Publisher https://www.harpercollins.com/cr-100456/eric-carle

Fun Facts
● Eric Carle has a net worth of 60 million.
● More than 88 million copies of his books have sold around the
world.
● The bright colors of a The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and other Eric
Carle books, contrast a dark period in his childhood.
● He worked in the US Army during the Korean War, but was
located in Germany as a mail clerk. When he was discharged
from the army he continued back at New York Times.
● Eric has one sister, Christa, who is much younger than him, 21
years younger, in fact. He dedicated The Very Hungry
Caterpillar to her.
● Eric Carle designed a logo for the search engine Google. The
logo, featuring letters looking like fruit, was used on their
homepage to celebrate spring 2009.
 Responsibilities:

● Carolina Gonzalez Torres:

Interview, Contributions to Children’s Literature, Themes
● Sabrina Fakhoury:
Genres, Targeted Audience, Analysis of Author’s Writing
● Treniquii Kail:
Book Review, Evaluation of a Book, Websites
● Xenia Myers:
Background Information, List of Books, Illustrations and
How They’re Made, Awards, Fun Facts, Slide set-up

Biographical Information
Bibliographical Information
Analysis of Author’s Craft
Analysis of one of author’s books
Evaluation of one of author’s books
Presentation
References
Picture of author
Author's background-life & interests both personal and professional
Interview transcripts or audio of interview – What does one learn about the author from this interview? (Include the link in
your powerpoint.)
How does the author get his/her ideas?
Is the author working on any new stories?
What advice does the author have for young writers?
Number of books written by author / number of books illustrated
Complete listing of authors work (along with picture of books for an excelling rating) arranged according to a pattern
(chronologically, by genre, by series, etc.)
Genres of his book
Targeted audience
Selected book reviews from Horn Books or School Library Journal
Public’s reception of books, popularity, etc.
Contributions to children’s literature
Themes of author’s work / books as supported by specific examples
Analysis of author’s style of writing using several of his/her books
Includes multiple visual images of author’s picture book in Google presentation and uses book design vocabulary to analyze
● literary elements (4 or more),
● peritextual features (book design) (4 or more elements),
● elements of design (4 or more elements),
● artistic media,
● artistic style,
● and intertextuality of an author’s work.
● Evaluates the book for its skillful use of literary elements (plot, characterization, point of view, setting, theme,
mood);
● explicitly explains with examples how the illustrations communicate not just literal meaning but symbolism
through the use of colors, framing, shading, and other visual elements;
● explains how the pictures interplay with the text to create meaning.
Multimedia presentation that contains relevant graphics pertaining to life and work of author that enhance the quality and
meaning of the presentation
Includes sound, pictures, and video
Good editing of word and graphics
Cohesive design
Use 3 scholarly sources – peer reviewed journal, children’s literature books, etc.
Author’s website
Reputable Teaching websites