Eric Carle is one of the most well known authors and illustrators in the world of children’s literature for his distinct illustrations and quirky tales that keep kids engaged in unique ways.
Our family loves to read his tales, and our absolute faves are below. Comment with any that you love or other suggestions you’ve got as well!
This is our most read Eric Carle book. The Very Hungry Caterpillar story shows kids the journey from caterpillar to butterfly with a humorous depiction of what the caterpillar consumes before creating its chrysalis. The set up of those pages- that build on each other as they do in the caterpillar’s belly- is so fun!
Little Cloud wants to explore and pretend while the other clouds float up into the sky. It transforms into many shapes before re-joining its friends and creating rain. My kids love to find shapes in the clouds, and it was fun to imagine Little Cloud choosing what shape it’d be.
Maybe his silliest, we love the Mixed up Chameleon. The surface level silliness and the deeper message about being true to yourself are joyful and fun. In this story, Chameleon becomes jealous of the unique traits of other animals and takes them on, looking very odd at the end until he realizes he was just fine as he was and changes back. I love this message and my kids laugh every time we see that mixed up chameleon!
The Tiny Seed shows the life cycle of one seed through the seasons. It has quite a bit more text than our other Eric Carle favorites, but the fun images kept my kids’ attention. This would also be helpful as a first conversation about beginning and end of life.
I’m a sucker for most of Eric Carle’s “Very…” books. That’s what there are 3 in this stack! We love The Very Lonely Firefly– a sweet story of a firefly who try many times to find a friend in a nearby light just to find it’s something else- the eyes of an owl, a flashlight, even a fireworks display! Finally, Firefly finds a whole field of friends, and the light-up last page delights my kids every time.
Many friends try to get The Very Busy Spider to do a fun activity with her but she remains steadfast at her task of building her web. Eventually, she a pesky fly gets caught in the web and Spider has her reward. I love to use this as an example of focus and hard work paying off. Visually, the web is illustrated with raised, shiny material that delighted my kids on each page.
Friends is the sweet story of two friends who meet as young kids. One moves away and the other goes on a fantastical journey to find the other. They reunite and get married at the end! The final pages briefly shares a story of Mr. Carle’s own experience moving away from a friend at the age of six and wondering what happened to her, which absolutely warms my heart.