The Very Hungry Caterpillar

My son loves it, read the book all the times.

Lovely book. My grandson loves it.

Lovely big sized board book, arrived on time

Lovely book and story kids love it.

A beautiful book. Didn't check the dimensions but a lovely small size. Very sturdy book with vibrant colours.

This was my son’s favourite book over 30 years ago so I e bought it for my granddaughter who’s due in June. I can’t wait!

The Hungry Caterpillar – Eric CarleThis children’s classic is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, a testament to its success and enduring ability to bring enjoyment. Carle brings words, colour, images, science, maths, health and time into this simple story about the miracle of nature whereby a caterpillar transforms into a beautiful butterfly; children can learn a lot from this book.Firstly, the story starts with perspective, “in the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf”. In the vastness of the surroundings, Carle focuses on something tiny – a single caterpillar egg. Amazing things are found in the small details of our universe. On the next page, this egg hatches into the caterpillar with a “pop!” – Carle uses onomatopoeia to appeal to the child’s senses and give a sense of it happening suddenly.Carle said in one of his newsletters that “The book is like a bridge, over which a story travels from the writer to the readers.” And in order to make the story travel, the typography of the book is important, as well as the words and pictures. When the caterpillar eats fruit, the pages are different sizes, depending on how much he has eaten and what day it is. This helps with a child’s counting and learning the days of the week. There are also small holes through the pictures of everything he eats, as if the caterpillar has eaten his way through the book too! In fact Carle’s idea for the book came from the thought of a bookworm has he punched holes in paper. These small, simple holes make the very hungry caterpillar come alive.The book also teaches children about healthy eating, with humour. Unusually for a caterpillar, after eating lots of fruit, he consumes ice cream, cake, cheese, pie and more, which makes him feel ill. It has something in there for adults too; after all the feasting, the caterpillar eats a “green leaf, and after that he felt much better” – he needs a detox! Some adult readings see deeper into the hungry caterpillar – that it is a warning against capitalist greed; or that it represents a spiritual transformation. Perhaps this is seeing too much in story for children, but the tale is definitely one of hope and each reader can take something different from it.The pictures are crafted by Carle himself – beautiful colourful collages that make the pages bright. The butterfly is particularly spectacular and the patterns of the wings continue after the last page of words. The images help bring the metamorphosis to life in a way that children can understand; on one page the caterpillar is small, then he is large, then he is inside a cocoon, and finally, he is a butterfly. The change is complete but the cycle will begin again. Having watched butterflies hatch, I don’t think this will ever stop being fascinating and this book definitely captures that fascination.To explain why he chose a cocoon instead of a chrysalis, Carle said it mainly came from the words his father used to say to him when he was a boy: “‘Eric, come out of your cocoon.’ He meant I should open up and be receptive to the world around me. For me, it would not sound right to say, ‘Come out of your chrysalis.’ And so poetry won over science!” Here he blends poetry and science to create a children’s tale that is at once informative, striking and funny.see my other book reviews here: https://estherbookblog.wordpress.com/

Bought the book so my son who is at Uni could use it as a presentation aid for an interview process for an application for potential work placement/teaching course. He said the book was really good and help him a lot and the interviewers also said it was a good choice of book for primary school aged children.

Buena calidad del libro, muy lindo

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I bought this book for my 4 year old son, and he absolutely loved me reading it to him.

beatuful book

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