Eric Carle

Eric Carle (June 25, 1929 – May 23, 2021) was an American author, designer and illustrator of children's books. His picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, first published in 1969, has been translated into more than 66 languages and sold more than 50 million copies. Carle's career as an illustrator and children's book author accelerated after he collaborated on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Carle illustrated more than 70 books, most of which he also wrote, and more than 145 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.
Carle was born on June 25, 1929, in Syracuse, New York, the son of Johanna (née Oelschlaeger) and Erich W. Carle, a civil servant. When he was six years old, his mother, homesick for Germany, led the family back to Stuttgart. Carle was educated there and graduated from the local art school, the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart. His father was drafted into the German Army at the beginning of World War II (1939) and taken prisoner by the Soviet forces when Germany capitulated in May 1945. He returned home in late 1947, weighing 85 pounds (39 kg; 6.1 st). Carle told The Guardian years later that his father was a broken man when he returned after his military service, recalling Erich was a "sick man. Psychologically, physically devastated."
Carle was sent to the small town of Schwenningen to escape the bombings of Stuttgart. When he was 15, the German government conscripted boys of that age to dig trenches on the Siegfried Line. Carle did not care to think about it deeply and said his wife thought he suffered from post-traumatic stress:
Always homesick for the US, Carle returned, eventually settling in New York City in 1952 with only US$40 in savings (equivalent to $470 in 2024). He worked as a graphic designer in the promotion department of The New York Times. Carle was drafted into the US Army during the Korean War and stationed in Germany with the 2nd Armoured Division as a mail clerk. After his discharge, Carle returned to his job at The New York Times. He later became the art director of an advertising agency.
Educator and author Bill Martin Jr. noticed the illustration of a red lobster Carle had created for an advertisement and asked him to collaborate on a picture book.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was published by Henry Holt & Co. in 1967 and became a best-seller. Thus began Carle's career as an illustrator, and soon he was writing and illustrating his own stories. His first books as both author and illustrator were 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo and The Very Hungry Caterpillar in 1969. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was voted the number two children's picture book behind Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are in a 2012 survey of School Library Journal readers.
Carle's artwork was created as collage, using hand-painted papers, which he cut and layered to form bright and colourful images. Many of Carle's books have an added dimension—die-cut pages, twinkling lights as in The Very Lonely Firefly, even the lifelike sound of a cricket's song as in The Very Quiet Cricket. The themes of his stories are usually drawn from nature and inspired by the walks his father would take him on across meadows and through woods.
In Carle's own words:
Carle and his wife Barbara Morrison founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, a 44,000 sq ft (4,100 m) museum devoted to the art of children's books in Amherst, Massachusetts, adjacent to Hampshire College. According to the museum, it has had over one million visitors since it opened its doors in 2002.
Carle received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities including Williams College in 2016, Smith College in 2014, Appalachian State University in 2013 and Bates College in 2007.
Carle won numerous awards for his work in children's literature, including the Japan Picture Book Award, the Regina Medal and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators. In 2003, Carle received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now called the Children's Literature Legacy Award), from the professional children's librarians, which recognizes an author or illustrator whose books, published in the US, have made "a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children". The committee cited Carle's "visual observations of the natural world" and his innovative designs: "Taking the medium of collage to a new level, Carle creates books using luminous colors and playful designs often incorporating an interactive dimension, tactile or auditory discoveries, die-cut pages, foldouts, and other innovative uses of page space." In 2010, Carle was a US nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, "the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children's books."
Google paid tribute to Carle and his book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by asking him to design the logo "Google doodle", introduced on its home page on March 20, 2009, celebrating the first day of spring.
In 2019, a jumping spider mimicking a caterpillar was named in Carle's honor, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and to celebrate his 90th birthday.
The Frist Art Museum of Nashville, Tennessee's exhibition "Eric Carle's Picture Books: Celebrating 50 Years of The Very Hungry Caterpillar" was on display from October 18, 2019, through February 23, 2020. In November 2019, Carle sold his publishing rights to Penguin Random House.
For over 30 years, Carle and his second wife, Barbara (Morrison) Carle, resided in Northampton, Massachusetts as well as a winter home in Key Largo, Florida. Carle had a son and a daughter.
Eric Carle died on May 23, 2021, at his summer studio in Northampton from kidney failure, at age 91. An official announcement was made by his family on May 26, 2021, via their website. His wife Barbara had died in 2015 at her home in North Carolina.
Eric Carle wrote over 70 books that collectively sold over 170 million copies.