March 20th marks the 40th anniversary of Eric Carle’s beloved children’s picture book titled The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the colorful story of a caterpillar’s transformation into a butterfly. On a recent interview with National Public Radio, Mr. Carle admitted that his fascination with color stems from a dark childhood in Nazi Germany. “During the war, there were no colors, no – there was no fashion. People didn’t have colorful scarves. Everything was gray and brown and the cities were all – (unintelligible) to houses were camouflaged with grays and greens and brown greens and gray greens or brown greens, and – there was no color. Then after the war, I became more familiar with abstract artists (ph) and especially the impressionists – color, color, color.”
The Very Hungry Caterpillar has sold more than
29 million copies
and has been translated into more than 47 languages.
Congratulations Mr. Carle!
~ Emma
Read it or Weep 