Pre-K Reading 9/3/25 - The Joy of Eric Carle!

It’s early in the school year and I’m just getting to know the new students. Each week I pull all sorts of great books out of my bag, but the kids tend to gravitate towards certain books. The most popular books with all the students (regardless of race, age or background) are the Eric Carle books, in particular: “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. Both books have been around for quite a while (1967 and 1969, respectively) but neither of them have lost one ounce of their charm.

What makes them so special? The artwork for sure, but also there is something magical about the writing. The story flows from one page to the next and they are simply a joy to read and to look at.

The kids want to read the books over and over again. I had one student this week that read Brown Bear many times over… the entire time that he had with me. I love these books at the beginning of the year because they draw the students in and help to spark their love for reading. But later in the year I have to stop bringing these books because the kids won’t want to read anything else!

Sadly, the world lost Eric Carle a few years ago at the age of 91. He was a prolific creator with over 70 books to his credit, so there are many books and works of his art that we can enjoy forever. Eric and his beloved wife Barbara also founded the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. They created this museum “for the first-time museum visitor: an introduction to the experience of looking at art”. The museum hosts exhibitions of national and international picture book artists as well as Eric’s work.

To learn more about Eric Carle go to eric-carle.com.

Interesting fact: Eric’s children are named “Rolf” and “Cirsten”, so he would often hide a “C” and a “R” in his illustrations. Look for those next time you read one of his stories!