Picture Books: C is for Carle and Creative

Eric Carle wrote The Hungry Caterpillar, a deserved classic.

Apparently, Carle wrote a bunch of other insect books. I only found this out recently.

• The Grouchy Ladybug
• The Very Busy Spider
• The Very Clumsy Click Beetle
• The Very Quiet Cricket
• The Very Lonely Firefly

They all have some type of--dare I say, gimmick. Unfortunately, library books with certain types of gimmicks don't work after so many lendings.

Even the non-electronic gimmicks don't live up to the basic, classic, and entirely relevant design of The Hungry Caterpillar. Caterpillars do eat through a whole bunch of stuff. And who doesn't love being able to turn each page, or half a page, or quarter of a page, for the sight of another hole in the page? 

The book also has the merit of carrying a point without being preachy. I used it in a class of 4-5 year olds to discuss growing up. "And now let's draw butterflies!" (That was the craft.) Some of Carle's other books, on the other hand, strike me as a tad heavy-handed on the message front.

I think even children know the difference between analogy and sermon, even if they don't have the words for either.