DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

2/1/12                                                                                             Nicholas DePalo

Author Study of Eric Carle

 

Biography

            Eric Carle is an acclaimed and beloved children’s author and illustrator.  One of his most famous works is “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” from 1969.  Eric Carle was born on June 25, 1929 in Syracuse New York.  He only remained in America until he was six years old when his parents moved to Germany.  Many years later, he returned to America to pursue his career as a writer and illustrator.  Eric Carle’s art is distinctive and instantly recognizable.  His artwork is created in collage technique, using hand-painted papers, which he cuts and layers to form bright and cheerful images.  But the secret of his books appeal lies in his intuitive understanding of and respect for children who sense in him instinctively someone who shares their most cherished thoughts and emotion.

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

            Eric Carle’s most famous children’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” (1969) is a book about a caterpillar and as it eats its way through a wide variety of foodstuffs.  After eating all this food, the caterpillar begins to pupate and gets ready to emerge as a beautiful butterfly.  The setting of the book is on a single leaf in a tree and this helps the children to learn a little more about the world around them.  The only character is the caterpillar.  With the caterpillar being the only character, it allows the story to be focused more on the events of the caterpillar.  The book has a little bit of tension because each event puts a little more suspense into what is going to happen next.  The reader will want to know what will happen to the caterpillar.  The writing style is also important because the text is written to help children understand the days of the week and numbers. The text helps to teach new lessons to children in interesting ways. The illustrations are very colorful and take most of the page, leaving hardly any white space.  The illustrations help to keep the children interested in the book and not have their minds wandering.  Lastly, the pace of the book is completely right.  It’s at just the right speed for the children to completely understand the story. 

            All of Eric Carle’s literary works have the common element of nature and animals.  Usually, each work would focus on one animal.  For example, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” focuses on a caterpillar turning into a beautiful butterfly.  Eric Carle could have used the element of nature to show that nature can be colorful and beautiful.  What I have learned about this author is that he uses the concept of nature to show that there is beauty throughout the world.  He could have also wanted to show that people shouldn’t destroy the world and its beauty.

            This book is a good book to use with children.  The book is good to use because it has many lessons and morals to it.  For example, it has the lessons of eating right in it.  The book also has the lessons of learning how to count and learning the days of the week.  The target age group for the book is from the ages of 2 through 4.  This is a good age group because they are able to understand.  From his work, the children can learn about different things in nature and different animals.  They could also learn about what makes things beautiful.  A factual question could be “What foods did the caterpillar eat”?  This book can be used with the themes of healthy eating, natural beauty, and healthy living.  Lastly, a follow-up activity could be to have the children draw a picture of what they have eaten in the last few days.

 

The Very Busy Spider

            Another one of Eric Carle’s books that is a classic is “The Very Busy Spider” (l984).  It is about a spider that spends the whole day spinning her web.  Every time one of his friends comes to ask him something, he just ignores them and continues to spin his web.  The setting of the fence post near the farmyard allows for the children to see that spiders mainly live in the country and they also get to see how the country differs from the city.  The character of the spider and various farm animals is important.  They show that no matter who came to the spider, she just kept spinning the web.  It also shows that the animals have respect for the spider.  The tension in the book keeps the reader on edge and wanting to see what happens next.  Basically, the tension of if the spider will finish its web will keep the reader guessing.   The writing style of the book is written so young children could read it easily.  It only contains words that the children could understand.  The illustrations are very colorful images that pop right off the page.  They could basically tell the story without the use of the text.  The book’s pace is somewhat fast.  The events of the story end just as they start.  The children have the ability to identify with the situations or characters.

            Common elements in Eric Carle’s book are that of nature and animals.  All his books revolve around certain aspects of nature.  For example, “The Very Busy Spider” shows the aspect of how hard a spider works to spin their webs.  Also, the book shows how the spinning of the web could have natural beauty.  What I have learned about the writer is that he will use simple symbols like (animals, nature, etc.) to represent something more complexing.  The author also uses colorful illustrations of nature to show the natural beauty of things.

            This book is a good book to use with children.  It is good to use because it shows the lesson of work before play.  It shows that you should finish your work before you go play.  The age group for this book is ages 2 through 6 because at this age, the kids are starting to get responsibilities.  Also, they need to learn to do all their work before they do anything else.  What the children should expect to learn from this author’s work is that the natural beauty of something takes time and hard work.  A factual question could be “How did the spider answer the animals”?  An open-ended question could be “Would you do the same thing that the spider did”?  For this book we could use the themes of hard work, and patience.

 

From Head to Toe

            Another one of Eric Carle’s books is “From Head to Toe” (1997).  It is about how a variety of animals move in a variety of ways.  Each animal is always followed by a child copying them.  There is no definite setting because there is no reference to a name of a place in the text.  This could be a weakness because a setting could add more detail to the story.  The characters of the various animals and the various children show that everybody can do the same thing, no matter how different they are.  It also shows that everybody has to get up and move.  The book hardly has any tension to it.  If there was tension, the author could make the story a little more suspenseful.  The writing style of the book contains words that are easy for the children to read.  Also, the text repeats during the book.  The illustrations are very colorful images that consist of an animal and a child.  They are drawn to show that both animals and people can do the same things. The book has a pretty decent pace, not too fast and not to slow.  Each event has enough time to happen and the author has enough events to get the message across.  A child can also have the ability to identify with the situation or characters throughout the book.

            The common elements of this book just like the others are the presence of nature and animals.  They are very important in this book because it shows that no matter where you come from, you can do anything that other people can do. For example, a child with disabilities can do anything that a child without disabilities can do.  What I have learned from this author’s work is that he uses the presence of nature to show that everybody exists together on one world. 

            This book is good to use with children because it teaches them to get up and move and that everybody can do the same things.  Also, the book can open the children’s eyes up to see that a variety of animals inhabit this Earth.  The book teaches the children a variety of lessons that will open their eyes to a new perspective on the world.  The age group that would benefit from reading this book is ages 2 through 7. Because it teaches them to get up and move instead of just sitting around.  From the author’s work, the children should learn how to get up and move because that will keep you active and healthy.  A factual question could be “What action does the monkey do”?  An open-ended question could be “What do you do to stay active”?  The themes that can be used with this book are exercising, work and healthy living.  This whole book will make the child want to grow up and move.

 

Today Is Monday

            Another one of Eric Carle’s books is “Today Is Monday” (1993).  It is a book that offers a beautiful retelling of a classic children’s song in which delicious treats, exciting animals and friendly youngsters are brought to life through vibrant illustrations.  The book also gives the children some insight into different kinds of music.  There is no definite setting for this book.  They never give any clue or reference to where any of the animals or children are.  The variety of characters from the animals to the children shows that a variety of characters is good for diversity.  It shows that diversity is good for the children because it will allow them to meet people from other walks of life.  There is really no tension because it retells a song and not a story.  And there really isn’t any tension in a song.  The writing style of the book is written in lyrical format because it’s the retelling of a song.  Since the text is written in this way, the children will be able to enjoy it.  The illustrations in the book are very colorful and have vivid imagery that will keep the child’s attention on the book.  Also, the illustrations add some effect to the story.  The pace is a little fast, but it’s at the right speed.  All the events of the story are able to happen and do happen at the right speed.  A child has the right ability to identify with the situations and the characters of the book.

Eric Carle’s books use the common elements of nature, animals and natural beauty.  These common elements all reflect his views on the subject of the world.  Also, the use of animals, nature and natural beauty can be used to represent something else.  What I learned about this author is that he uses the concepts of nature, animals and natural beauty in his books to portray a deeper message.  For example, one of his messages could be not to litter and keep the world clean. 

            This book is good to use with children because then learn about a variety of animals and food.  They also get to learn about new music.  They could also learn something new from the illustrations like what technique was used and why they were made the way they were.  The children can also learn things like new words and repetition from the text.  The book can be used from the ages of 2 through 6 because the book is written in easy and understandable words.  From this work, children should learn that they need to try new things in the world.  A factual question could be “What type of food does each animal eat”?  An open-ended question could be “What kind of foods do you eat”?  The books can be used with the themes of healthy eating and being with friends.

 

Draw Me a Star

            Another one of Eric Carle’s books called “Draw Me a Star” (1992) is about an artist who is asked by an unseen friend to draw a star.  The star then asks the artist to draw the sun and so on until the entire universe was created.  The setting of the story is the Earth while it was being created.  What this setting shows is that some things in this world take hard work to create.  There are many different characters like the artist, the star and the sun which show that it takes multiple forces to create something wonderful like the world.  It also shows that many different things could come together for a common cause.  There is some tension in this book because the reader is always kept on the edge of their seat.  Each event is presented in a way that the reader wants to know what happened next.  The writing style of the book is written in a story like manner without any dialogue.  Also, the writing style is very easy to read and understandable for young children.  The illustrations are colorful and vivid images that take up the whole page leaving hardly any white space.  The illustrations also allow for the children to get a new perspective on art.  The pace of the book is perfect.  Each event in the story has enough time to develop and to happen.  The pace gives the story a sense of creation where God took a week to create the world.  A child has the ability to identify with the situation and characters.

            Eric Carle’s books share the common element of nature, animals and natural beauty.  Each of his books talks about a connection between these concepts and the world.  These concepts are used to describe how multiple things in this world can be connected.  Also, the concepts of natural beauty and nature could represent the perfection of the world after it was created.  While the animals represent the creatures that roam the earth every day.  What I have learned about this author, is that he must really love nature and the world around him.  His books are filled with references between natural beauty, animals and nature.  He must see a connection between these things that most people cannot see themselves.  Eric Carle is also a person who takes care of this fine planet called Earth, we live on.

            This book is great to use with children because it talks about one perspective of how the world was created.  It gives the perspective of one human being’s view on the concept.  The children will be able to see that it took a great deal of work to create the beautiful Earth. The age group would be from 4 through 6 because even though the pictures and text are easy to understand, the concept of the book isn’t.  A child under the age of 4 might not get the idea of creation, but a child between the ages of 4 and 6 might get it.  From his work, children should be able to learn that the Earth that they live on took a lot of time and hard work to create.  They should be respectful of this planet.  A factual question could be “Who drew the star and the sun”?  An open-ended question could be (do you believe that this is true?).  The themes that this book can be used with are respectfulness, hard work, patience and time worthy.

 

SAMPLE CHART FOR “DRAW ME A STAR”

T – Chart

Who created the star, sun, and everything?

The artists created the star, sun, and everything.

What did the couple ask the artist to draw for them?

The couple asked the artist to draw a house for them.

How did the star thank the artist for all of his hard work?

The star took the artist for a ride through the night sky.

Works Cited

"Biographical Notes for Eric Carle." The Official Eric Carle Web Site. Web. 02 Feb. 2012. <http://www.eric-carle.com/bio.html>.

Carle, Eric. Draw Me a Star. New York: Philomel, 1992. Print.

Carle, Eric. From Head to Toe. [New York]: HarperCollins, 1997. Print.

Carle, Eric. The Very Busy Spider. New York: Philomel, 1984. Print.

Carle, Eric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. [New York]: Philomel, 1987. Print.

Carle, Eric. Today Is Monday. New York: Philomel, 1993. Print.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.