The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Encyclopedia
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a children's picture book
Picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and pencil.Two of the earliest books with something like the format picture books still retain now...

 designed, illustrated and written by Eric Carle
Eric Carle
Eric Carle is a children's book author and illustrator who is most famous for his book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which has been translated into over 50 languages...

, first published by the World Publishing Company in 1969, later published by Penguin Putnam. The book follows a caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...

 as it eats its way through a wide variety of foodstuffs before pupa
Pupa
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...

ting and emerging as a butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

. The winner of many children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 awards and a major graphic design award, it has sold 30 million copies worldwide. It has been described as having sold the equivalent of a copy per minute since its publication. It features distinctive collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....

 illustrations (Carle's third book, and a new style at the time), 'eaten' holes in the pages and simple text with educational themes – counting, the days of the week, foods, and a butterfly's life stages. There have been a large number of related books and other products, including educational tools, created in connection to the book. Whilst the caterpillar's diet is fictional, rather than scientifically accurate, The Very Hungry Caterpillar introduces concepts of Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 life stages where transformations take place including the ultimate metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation...

 from 'hungry caterpillar' to 'beautiful butterfly', and the book has been endorsed by the Royal Entomological Society. It has been described as "one of the greatest childhood classics of all time."

Synopsis

  • The book starts with an egg on a leaf, in the light of the moon.
  • The sun comes up and a tiny caterpillar emerges and looks for food.
  • On consecutive days, the caterpillar eats through a single red apple, two (green) pears, three (purple) plums, four strawberries, and five oranges, which takes us from Monday to Friday.
  • Saturday: the caterpillar eats its way through many different foods: chocolate cake, ice-cream, a pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, a lollipop, cherry pie, a sausage, a cupcake, and a slice of watermelon. The caterpillar develops a tummy ache as a result of eating all this food.
  • Sunday: the caterpillar eats through a single leaf, which makes the caterpillar feel better.
  • The now big caterpillar forms a cocoon
    Cocoon
    Cocoon may refer to:*Cocoon , a pupal casing made by moth caterpillars and other insect larvae*Apache Cocoon, web development software*Cocoon , a 1985 science fiction film**Cocoon: The Return, 1988 sequel to Cocoon...

     (since the titular character is not a moth larva, this is poetic license).
  • On the final pages the caterpillar is now a 'beautiful' butterfly.

Development

The original title of the book was to have been A Week with Willi Worm, featuring a bookworm
Bookworm (insect)
Bookworm is a popular generalization for any insect which supposedly bores through books.Actual book-borers are uncommon. Both the larvae of the death watch beetle and the common furniture beetle will tunnel through wood and paper if it is nearby the wood.A major book-feeding insect is the book...

 named Willi. However, Carle's editor advised that a green worm would not make a very likable protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

.

The book was inspired by a hole punch
Hole punch
A hole punch is a common office tool that is used to create holes in sheets of paper, often for the purpose of collecting the sheets in a binder or folder.The origins of the hole punch date back to Germany via Matthias Theel, where two early patents for a...

er:

"One day I was punching holes with a hole puncher into a stack of paper, and I thought of a bookworm and so I created a story called 'A Week with Willi the Worm'. Then my editor suggested a caterpillar instead and I said 'Butterfly!' That's how it began," said Carle.

Awards and accolades

The book has won numerous awards, including an American Institute of Graphic Arts
American Institute of Graphic Arts
AIGA is an American professional organization for design. Organized in 1914, AIGA currently has more than 22,000 members throughout 66 chapters and more than 200 student groups nationwide...

 Award in 1970, the Selection du Grand Prix des Treize in France in 1972, and the Nakamori Reader's Prize in Japan in 1975.

The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

 cited it as one of the "Ten Best Picture Books of the Year" in 1969. The book placed at number 199 in the Big Read
Big Read
The Big Read was a survey on books carried out by the BBC in the United Kingdom in 2003, where over three quarters of a million votes were received from the British public to find the nation's best-loved novel of all time...

, a 2003 poll conducted by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 to determine the United Kingdom's
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 best loved books. It was one of the few picture books to place on the list.

Educational and cultural influence

The book has been translated into over 50 languages, including French, Spanish, Chinese and Russian. It has been used by elementary school teachers, librarians, and parents, as a teaching aid, with activities developed which use the book It was used by President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 when reading to children during his presidential campaigns, as well as by his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush
Barbara Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush is the wife of the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush, and served as First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993. She is the mother of the 43rd President George W. Bush and of the 43rd Governor of Florida Jeb Bush...

, as part of her campaign to promote literacy.
In 2009, Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

 celebrated the book's 40th anniversary by changing the logo
Google logo
Google has had several logos since its renaming from BackRub. The current official Google logo was designed by Ruth Kedar, and is a wordmark based on the Catull typeface....

 on its main search page to the style used in the book.

In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Pediatrics
The American Academy of Pediatrics is the major professional association of pediatricians in the United States. The AAP was founded in 1930 by 35 pediatricians to address pediatric healthcare standards. It currently has 60,000 members in primary care and sub-specialist areas...

 sent out special copies of the book, with associated learning tools, to health providers, to promote healthy eating in the U.S.

Adaptations

It was adapted for television in 1993 by the UK based Illuminated Film Company
Illuminated Film Company
-Productions:Productions include The World of Eric Carle , T.R.A.N.S.I.T directed by Piet Kroon, A Christmas Carol - The Movie directed by Jimmy T Murakami, War Game directed by Dave Unwin and Little Princess series director Ed Foster. Two series of Little Princess were made for Channel 5's...

 as part of an anthology called The World of Eric Carle that included four other Carle stories: The Very Quiet Cricket, The Mixed Up Chameleon, Papa, Please Get The Moon For Me and I See A Song. Narration on the DVD release of the programme, entitled The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories, was performed by Roger McGough
Roger McGough
Roger Joseph McGough CBE is a well-known English performance poet. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme Poetry Please and records voice-overs for commercials, as well as performing his own poetry regularly...

 and Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Stevenson
Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, CBE is an English actor of stage and screen.- Early life :Stevenson was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth , a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevenson, an army officer. Stevenson's father was in the army and was posted to a new place every...

, while in the U.S. version, distributed by Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

, narration was by Brian Cummings
Brian Cummings
Brian Cummings is an American voice actor.-Biography:He is known for his work in radio and television commercials, television and motion picture promos, cartoons and as the announcer on The All-New Let's Make a Deal from 1984 to 1985...

 and Linda Gary
Linda Gary
Linda Gary was an American voice actor and voice-over artist, who has worked on multiple animated projects.-Personal life:Linda Gary Dewoskin was born in California on November 4, 1944....

. Subsequent to that adaptation, the film and TV rights were sold for £1 million.

Ancillary products

There have been numerous different editions of the book, with various additional features, as well as games incorporating copies of the book. Examples include a pop-up version and a book/card game combination from University Games. Other toys and educational resources based upon or featuring The Very Hungry Caterpillar are also plentiful.

An educational video game based on the book, titled The Very Hungry Caterpillar's ABCs, was released by CYBIRD Co. Ltd. for WiiWare
WiiWare
WiiWare is a service that allows Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications can only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel under the WiiWare section...

 on September 20, 2010.

In Popular Culture

  • In one episode of MAD
    Mad (TV series)
    MAD is an American animated sketch comedy series created by Kevin Shinick and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Based upon the magazine of the same name, each episode is a collection of short animated parodies of television shows, movies, games, celebrities and other media using various types of...

     called "Fast Hive", Tigger
    Tigger
    Tigger is a fictional tiger-like character originally introduced in A. A. Milne's book The House at Pooh Corner. Like other Pooh characters, Tigger is based on one of Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed animals...

     and Piglet
    Piglet
    -Livestock:* Piglet , the young of the domestic pig* Suckling pig, often consumed as food* Roasted piglet, a Serbian dish of roast meat, not necessarily pork-Other:* Piglet , the fictional character from A. A...

     fly out of the Winnie the Pooh book and end up in this book, where the Very Hungry Caterpillar gives them some honey.
  • In one episode of Dexter
    Dexter
    Dexter is a Latin adjective meaning "on the right hand side, skillful, fortunate, favourable, proper, fitting".Dexter may also refer to:...

    , his son is said to have read The Very Hungry Caterpillar with his nanny.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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