The classic story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, was published 50 years ago! That little critter deserves to eat through 50 cupcakes in celebration. Eric Carle, who is now 89 years old, originally titled the book A Week With Willi Worm before he ended up going with the caterpillar and butterfly theme we know so well today. Check out more interesting information about this popular classic.
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar is only 224 words long.
- A spider (Uroballus carlei) is named after Eric Carle for its similarity to the caterpillar in the story. Personally, I’m not sure that I see the resemblance.
- The book has been translated into more than 60 languages.
- The popularity of The Very Hungry Caterpillar no doubt comes from it’s message of hope and its coverage of so many educational themes: counting, days of the week, nutrition, and the life cycle of a butterfly.
Check out this activity that helps little ones retell this classic story!
I definitely do not see a resemblance either.
This was my daughter’s favorite book when she was a child. We’d check in and out of the library every two weeks. I finally bought a copy to always have it on hand. It’s a favorite on my lesson plans for our bug’s theme on butterflies.
Possibly, but the colors are all wrong.
Hands down a favorite book for me 🙂