Eric Carle, the beloved children's author and illustrator whose classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other works gave millions of kids some of their earliest and most cherished literary memories, has died at age 91.
Carle's family says he died Sunday at his summer studio in Northampton, Massachusetts, with family members at his side.
The family's announcement was issued by Penguin Young Leaders. Carle's son, Rolf, told The New York Times that his father suffered from kidney failure.
Through books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?; Do You Want to Be My Friend?; and From Head to Toe, Carle introduced universal themes in simple words and bright colors.
'The unknown often brings fear with it,' he once observed.
'In my books I try to counteract this fear, to replace it with a positive message. I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn. I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun.'
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, published in 1969, was welcomed by parents and delighted kids with its story of the metamorphosis of a green and red caterpillar with a touch of blue and brown to a proudly multi-colored butterfly.
Originally conceived as a book about a bookworm - called A Week with Willi the Worm - the hero, who eats through 26 different foods, was changed to a caterpillar on the advice of his editor.
It has sold some 40 million copies and has been translated into 60 languages, spawned stuffed animal caterpillars and has been turned into a stage play.
'I remember that as a child, I always felt I would never grow up and be big and articulate and intelligent,' Carle told The New York Times in 1994. "Caterpillar is a book of hope: you, too, can grow up and grow wings.'
Politicians like George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton were known to read the book to children on the campaign trail.
Eric Carle, the artist and author of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” a tale that has charmed generations of children and parents alike, died on Sunday at 91. He wrote and illustrated more than 70 books for young children. https://t.co/XCjXo96mqi
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 26, 2021
The American Academy of Pediatrics sent more than 17,000 pediatricians special copies of the book, along with growth charts and parent handouts on healthy eating.
Fellow writer and illustrator Ted Dewan called the book one of the pillars of children's culture.
'It's almost talking about how great the Beatles were. It´s beyond reproach,' he said.
Carle wrote and-or illustrated more than 75 books, sometimes partnering with Bill Martin Jr. or other authors, but most with Carle working alone.
One of his last books was 2015's The Nonsense Show, which centered on a parade of flying fish, cat-taming mice and circus animals.
Born to German immigrant parents in Syracuse, New York, Carle and his family returned to Stuttgart, Germany - Nazi Germany, at the time - when he was 6.
Not long after returning to Germany, Carle's father was drafted into the German army and was taken as a prisoner of war in Russia.
Eric was 15 years old at the time. He managed to avoid the draft but was conscripted by the Nazi authorities to dig trenches on the Siegfried line, a 400-mile-long defensive line in western Germany.
When his father returned from the war, Carle said that he weighed 85 pounds. He came home 'a broken man,' the author recalled.
His father introduced him to the wonders of the living creatures that he would later immortalize in his books.
'When I was a small child, as far back as I can remember, he would take me by the hand and we would go out in nature,' he told The New York Times in 1994.
'And he would show me worms and bugs and bees and ants and explain their lives to me. It was a very loving relationship.'
Under the Nazis, modern, expressionistic and abstract art was banned and only realistic and naturalistic art was permitted.
When Carle was 12 or 13, a high school art teacher would change his life by inviting him to his home, where he secretly showed his expressionist art, including Franz Marc's Blue Horse.
'I was used to pretty paintings with a mountain in the background. Although I was shocked, I always carried that day in my heart,' Carle told NPR in 2011.
As an illustrator, he said he chose to portray animals in unconventional colors to show his young readers that in art, there is no wrong color.
He thanked Marc in the pages of The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse.
His signature illustration technique was done by piecing pictures together chiefly from tissue paper that he had painted with various colors and textures.
'It sounds corny, but I think I connect with the child in me, and I think others do, too,' he told The Associated Press in 2003.
The theme of kids mastering the world was tackled in other tales of critters with 'very' big predicaments: The Very Busy Spider, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Lonely Firefly, and Friends.
The love of family was explored in such books as Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, 1986; and Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? from 2000.
After the war, Carle went to study typography and graphic art at State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. He completed his studies there in 1950.
Two years later, he moved to New York City with just $40 in his pocket.
He worked as a graphic designer in the promotion department of The New York Times before switching to advertising.
Soon afterward, however, he was drafted into the US Army and sent back to Germany, where he was stationed with the Second Armored Division as a mail clerk.
After completing his military service, Clarke returned to the Times, though he left the newspaper in 1963 to work as a freelance artist.
It was Martin who spotted Carle's talents and brought him into the publishing field.
Carle was working as an art director for an advertising agency at the time; Martin had just written Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and needed an illustrator.
'While waiting for a dentist appointment, I came across an ad he had done that featured a Maine lobster,' Martin, who died in 2004, told the AP in 2003.
'The art was so striking that I knew instantly that I had found my artist!'
The book, which introduces colors and animals to young readers, came out in 1967 and became a perennial bestseller.
Their other joint works were 1991's Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? and 2003's Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?
In 2002, Carle and his late wife, Barbara Carle, founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.
Based in Amherst, Massachusetts, the nonprofit, 40,000-square-foot arts center is a showcase for picture book illustrations from around the world.
He received lifetime achievement awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Library Association.
He is survived by a son, Rolf; a daughter, Cirsten; and a sister, Christa Bareis.
Actress Mia Farrow paid tribute to Carle on her Twitter feed on Wednesday.
‘Eric Carle has died - but he left us the unforgettable Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear, Brown Bear- books I read to my children and now my grandchildren,’ the Rosemary’s Baby star tweeted.
‘Loving thoughts with his family and very much gratitude for Mr. Carle,’ Farrow wrote, adding a heart emoji.
Before news of Carle's death was announced, the Duchess of Cornwall posted a tweet showing her reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar during a visit to Coventry Central Library on Tuesday.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
