The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Carle, E.  (1969). The very hungry caterpillar. New York:  Philomel Books.

This beautifully illustrated book has caught my eye ever since I was a young child.  The pictures are very bright and captivating.  Eric Carle uses a collage technique were he cuts out small hand painted pieces of paper.  His illustrations are one of a kind and take a long amount of time to create.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a book that tells the story of a caterpillar hatching from an egg.  Throughout the story the caterpillar eats more and more food each day. The caterpillar eats leaves and lots and lots of junk food! As a child I thought it was funny when I read that the caterpillar ate cake. Children find humor and interest while reading about the journey that the caterpillar goes through. This is an excellent book for children who are learning about number patterns and the life cycle of a butterfly.  The reading level of this book would be good for preschool to first grade because of the simple words, predictions on every page, and the number patterns.  Although the reading level of the book would be good for much younger students, the life cycle concept would be great to teach upper elementary students.  I have used this book in my science classroom while teaching 3rd grade students about the life cycles of animals. It helped them understand the four stages in a butterfly life cycle. I would recommend this book to everyone because of the words and the pictures. My 2 1/2 year old nephew loves this book because of the pictures and the number patterns. My BIG question to students would be "What are the different stages that the butterfly went through?  Why did the caterpillar have to eat a lot of food?"