Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Childhood

It’s hard to read Eric Carle’s books the same way once you
know where he came from. As Newsweek writes about the
80-year-old children’s author who has made millions off his classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Carle’s childhood was far from the rosy world portrayed in his books.

Born to German immigrants in New York, Carle was upended at the age of six to move back to Germany, for which his mother was terribly homesick. The carefree freedom of the first six years of his life quickly eroded, replaced by teachers armed with bamboo switches and the panic of war. His father was drafted to fight for Germany, leaving Carle and his mother starving and spending much of their time hiding from bombs in their cellar. After the war, Carle’s father was sent to a Russian work camp and returned two years later a broken man.

Carle continued to dream of the United States until he returned in 1952 to pursue his artistic dreams. So, interestingly, the classic American children’s books he’s written are, in many ways, an ode to America.

“With my books,” Carle says, “I try to recapture a period I should’ve had and didn’t—for more fun, more nonsense, more humour.” While he has certainly succeeded on these counts, Carle’s books also have a hint of dark depth—the solitary caterpillar slowly eating his way through all of the treats he can get, as if no amount of food could quell his hunger.

Naturally, the caterpillar’s monotonous, lonely existence makes young readers feel all the more triumphant when they turn the page to find into a colorful butterfly, poised to take flight.