Rating: 
Summary: Charming ¿ Eat Your Way Through An Afternoon!
Review: Story Synopsis:
- A caterpillar eats his way through different foods until he is full and weaves a cocoon transforming into a beautiful butterfly. Charming colorful illustrations of foods along with the fat caterpillar and catchy little holes in the foods where the caterpillar "had his snack" make this book a hit with young children.Review:
- Eric Carle's classic, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" has charmed millions over the years with it's simple memorable story, striking illustrations and the gimmicky holes on each of its' pages. To date, more than 12 million copies of this book have been sold in its original, full-sized edition, and mini editions. This beloved tale of science and gluttony has also been translated into 20 languages and counting. Die-cut pages (each page has a hole where the "caterpillar" ate through the food item) illustrate what the caterpillar ate on successive days. Strikingly bold, colorful pictures and a simple text in large, clear type tell the story of a hungry little caterpillar's culinary progress through an amazing variety and quantity of foods. Full at last, he weaves a cocoon around himself and goes to sleep, to emerge a few weeks later as a wonderfully transformed and beautiful butterfly! The final, double-page picture of the butterfly is a joyous explosion of color, a vibrant affirmation of the wonder and beauty of Nature. This story is a hit every time. Carle's bright colors and clever die-cut artwork never cease to entertain even the youngest child, and there is surely nothing in nature closer to magic than the emergence of a butterfly. This is a beautiful, educational and fun book. Literary Features For Young Readers:
- Simple words appropriate to pre-readers, younger children and ELLs (English Language Learners).
- The predictability of the words and their tie-in with the illustrations makes the book easy for pre-readers to understand.
- The rhythm of the prose makes the book memorable and fun book to read for little people.
- Strikingly bold, colorful pictures tell the story of the hungry little caterpillar in complement with the simple words.
- Eric Carle's art gimmick (i.e. the die-cut holes through the food illustrations on each page) gives small children (and the occasional adult like me!) an extra bit of fun and enjoyment
- The moral lessons of the story are simple and universal: "Don't judge a person by the way they look" and "real beauty is more than skin-deep." Teaching Tie-ins:
- Counting skills (Foods accumulate progressively)
- The days of the week.
- Nutrition (The best food for the caterpillar is the leaf, not the candy, cake, etc. or why we can't eat chocolate and candy all day long)
- Intro to science and biology:
It is a fun book with its' "holes" that have been eaten through the pages, and become a preschoolers introduction to science/biology when the little caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly.
- Shapes (foods) Possible Projects:
- Food or nutrition mobiles and other related projects.
- Art collages in the style or Eric Carle using torn tissue and other media.
- Simple life cycle science projects (posters are life cycle mobiles)
- Caterpillar art activity: creating caterpillars out of an egg cartoons.
- As a preschool and kindergarten teacher, I had classes perform simple plays for young children based upon this book.
----------------------------------------------- I highly recommend this charming little book for younger children and ELLs (English Language Learners). Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan
Rating:
Summary: Perfect spring reading!
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite children's books. One sunny day, a caterpillar pops out of an egg. He is very hungry and begins searching for food. Now, many of Eric Carle's books have gimmicks--the tactile web in THE VERY BUSY SPIDER and the chirping in THE VERY QUIET CRICKET, for example. The gimmick in this book is that the caterpillar eats holes through all the food, holes that are actually punched into the pages of the book. It's a good gimmick, actually. Also, many of Carle's books teach conventions--telling time in THE VERY GROUCHY LADYBUG and animal sounds in THE VERY BUSY SPIDER, for example. This one teaches the days of the week. On Monday, the caterpillar eats this, on Tuesday he eats that, and so forth. Very cute. Eventually, he becomes a fat caterpillar. He then spins himself a cocoon, where he rests for two weeks. And when he emerges...well, you can guess the results. It's a wonderful story. Best of all, the text is very simple as are the illustrations, so the book will appeal to toddlers as well as the pre-K and kindergarten crowd. In fact, it may appeal more to toddlers, because the story is so very simple. I know I read it as a kindergartener. I loved the holes but found the story rather boring. I read it to my two-year-old this spring, however, and he went nuts over it. The days of the week were lost on him, but he was fascinated by the caterpillar turning into a butterfly--he had no idea! Can't tell you how many times we read it. We also re-enacted it, crawling on the floor and eating, spinning ourselves into cocoons, and popping out with fluttery wings. In fact, he was so taken with the caterpillar-to-butterfly phenomenon that I ordered some caterpillars (I used "Insect Lore"--they are on-line--but I'm sure there are lots of other places to get them). We read THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR at each stage of their development and then right before we released them as butterflies. It was the highlight of our spring.
Rating:
Summary: A True Children's Classic... A must read to your little one
Review: I remember reading the Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle when I was little, and it was one of my favorite ones to read then. So now that I'm a mother, I decided to buy this book for my daughter; maybe it will be her favorite too. The Hunry Caterpillar is a wonderful story and has brilliant illustrations. I particular like it that it can teach very young children to count to five and the days of the week. I have been reading this book since my daughter was three months old and even after a few months of me reading this to her she likes this one the best. I recommend the board book over the one with the paper pages especially if you are just starting to read to your infant...the board books tend to last longer when they start to grab at the pages.
Rating:
Summary: A Delightful Book That Children Love! Makes A Great Gift!
Review: This delightful book about a caterpillar's metamorphosis to a butterfly never fails to enchant and amuse children. The tiny, ravenous caterpillar eats everything in its path from apples to cherry pie to prepare itself for the chrysalis stage, and afterward emerges as a beautiful butterfly. While kids are fascinated by the story and magical process of metamorphosis, from egg to butterfly, he/she also learns about numbers, counting, colors and the days of the week. The illustrations are bright and cheerful, the writing is full of fun. I bought this book as a gift for a friend's two year-old, and it has become one of her favorites. The size is right also. It fits perfectly into her small hands. And Mom is thrilled with the book's educational value, as well as her daughter's giggle's as she rereads this wonderful tale.
JANA
Rating:
Summary: A fun "must have" children's book!
Review: Recommendation:
Great and fun book for the very young reader! One of those "must have's" for growing children! Educational Summary:
A cute story with lot's of color's, shapes (different foods), sizes and sounds. It teaches early counting, food types, as well as the life cycle of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Story:
The very hungry caterpillar grows from an egg, and of course is very hungry. Each day, the caterpillar eats one more item than the day before - until he is very, very full! (Why we can't eat chocolate and candy all day long.) Then, the caterpillar, being very full and feeling very badly eats "a single green leaf". After "resting" in its cocoon, the caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly.
Rating:
Summary: Perennial favorite
Review: While on occasion I can persuade the youngster to read Michael Holt's "Rise & Fall of the American Whig Party" with me, she seems to prefer the caterpillar. Who am I to argue? I would have been disappointed if someone hadn't given us this book when she was born, and it remains one of my guilty pleasures, I suppose. We got an extremely cute onesie to go along with the book as well.
Rating:
Summary: What a wornderful book
Review: This was a fantastic book. I loved it in english and in German. That is how a book should be. I bet there isn't a kid who doesn't know who Eric Carle is he is that great of an author. He has many great books. I love each and every one of his books. No dought in my mind
Rating:
Summary: Good for numbers
Review: This book is a great opportunity to count out the fruits, and share a great giggle with your child. It is a more subtle way to engage your child in experiencing numbers.
Rating: 
Summary: Muncha muncha muncha
Review: Through no fault of its own, this book is perhaps best known these days as the story President George W. Bush named as his "favorite book". Ignoring the fact that the Mr. Bush was born in 1946 and the book was published originally in 1969, it's a good idea to reexamine "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" on the basis of its own merits. It is the best known Eric Carle book by far and has remained a beloved text since the day it was conceived and published.
Here's the plot, inasmuch as there is one. A caterpillar (make that a very HUNGRY caterpillar) proceeds to eat his way through an amazing and amusing assortment of fruits, sweets, and (in time) leaves. After becoming quite a fat little fellow, the caterpillar makes a cocoon for himself and eventually emerges as a splendiferous butterfly. The end.
I'm going to ignore the fact that as a child I found this book a bit repetitive. We are told that children like to hear repeated phrases in books, and perhaps this is true. From what I can recall, however, this book bugged me with its continually repeated, "but he was still hungry"s. Looking at it now, though, it is a lovely little work. The caterpillar has far more expressions on his face than I initially remembered. When he's searching for food he has a somewhat bewildered look in his eyes. When he's eaten an amusingly large assortment of foods his eyes droop as he attempts to live through his own stomachache. Oddly, the time he looks the most distressed is after he has turned into a beautiful butterfly. Now his face is contorted in such a way that his drooping eyes and open mouth make him look as if he is crooning a sentimental sad ballad to the viewer.
To be frank, I'm not the biggest Carle fan in the world. But he really was one of the forefathers of the collage picture book. And though I might prefer some of his later book to the caterpillar, there's no denying that the book has had the kind of staying power most authors only dream of. So by all means pull up a chair and take a gander at the very hungry caterpillar. It's a nice tale that amuses and entertains even as it helps children to count.
Rating: 
Summary: Stunning.
Review: This book has to be one of the greatest sagas ever told, the story of a caterpillar who eats his way to becoming a beautiful butterfly. I think it's a story we can all relate to. I'm going to give it one star anyway because I just stubbed my toe really hard and damn it, I blame this book.
| 
