On my quest for procrastination from reading that book, I stumbled upon The Very Hungry Caterpillar on YouTube. In this video, Eric Carle himself is reading the story.

This is not my first time with the caterpillar. I used to read it a lot when I worked with children. I like that it's short, that it helps them learn numbers and the days of the week. Now that I think of it, I did not have this for my son when he was small and learning to count. Shame on me.

No character development, and very fast paced. :/ (Satire)

There are a lot of children's books that feel as if they are really written for the parents. The sort that kids tolerate but adults "ooh and aah" over feeling they're doing their parental duty by reading these fascinating works of children's literature and enriching their lives, where the child really just wants to know how much Dragons Love Tacos. Almost all of Eric Carle's work feels that way to me. I remember hating him as a kid, yet adults love to read him. Hell, go into any large book store and they practically set up a shrine to the man for consumers to pay homage before offering their tithe.

This book is the one exception to that list. It's the one I liked as a kid and the only one I've bothered to buy for my daughter (for the record, I read The Grouchy Ladybug to her just to see if maybe I was the weird one as a kid who hated them, and she showed zero interest in it). This one works with its creative design, the humorous word choices and the amazing day where it eats a random assortment of food. This is the one Carle book that actually seems fun for young readers rather than being just "a work of art".

Maybe I'm coming off overly critical of him. Maybe I just don't "get it" but hey, at least there's one exception… right? 4/5 stars

Hungry is as hungry does.

Eric Carle's vision of metamorphosis is more hand-painted collage and less existential nightmare compared to that of Franz Kafka.

Our hero of the story, the caterpillar, is indeed hungry. Very hungry. He even eats his way through the pages of the book itself.

All this eating is for a purpose, leading to his beautiful metamorphosis, which is finally revealed on the last page. (Spoiler alert!)

I have so many fond memories of Eric Carle's books, especially "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." This is the book that spurred my own interest in entomology as a child. Every year I would find monarch caterpillars, feed them milkweed, and observe their seemingly magical transformation into beautiful butterflies. Each time a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis, spreads its wings, and takes its first flight is like a small miracle before your very eyes.

Eric Carle's artistic style is inimitable and immediately recognizable. You don't even need to read the name of the author on the cover of an Eric Carle book to know who wrote it.

He is also a gifted storyteller and know exactly how to capture children's imagination and inspire them to discover the world around them.

Excised from this edition is the chapter where the caterpillar, crazy with starvation, climbs onto a sleeping frog, burrows into its brain and becomes the frog’s Slave Master. Slowly, the caterpillar uses the frog’s brain to intimidate the other amphibians using a Stalinist diktat that leads to a mass cull of water boatmen and a systematic persecution of water rats until the mallards, mad with rage, march on the frog armies in a violent, feathery uprising that leaves eight million swans dead and rivers of frog entrails on the shoes of passing toddlers. Is that the sort of message we want to give our kids? IS IT? This book is sick.

Classic.

No. 199 on the BBC's Big Read

Holey Shit. Okay, I don't really know what to say about this er... book, because I must've been about five when I first read it. I'm working my way up the BBC's Big Read, and so I re-read it. Except I genuinely feel lost for words, and trust me when I tell you, that never happens. However, I do remember enjoying the book as a kid, so I'm going to let my original rating stay. (Also, food porn, anyone?)

Anyway, so we have a very hungry caterpillar here, and he eats through a bunch of food through the course of the book. He only eats like small, tiny bites of everything, but then again, the glutton that he is, he eats everything, from apples to Swiss cheese to chocolate cake.

SPOILER ALERT: He finally becomes a butterfly.

P.S. I remember having read an Enid Blyton story, that was kind of similar to this, as a kid. And I remember having liked it more. I think it was called the Caterpillars' Party or something.

An intense and immersive breakdown of this juggernaut of complex literature: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Szf...

Classic story beloved by all of our children. Simple repetitive story and a tactile treat. Not read it in a while - my youngest is fifteen - but it is one of the few books from that time that we have saved.

simple counting/bug life book, wish the drawings were more appealing

A very silly book

Very nicely made. Small enough to carry about only down side the ‘fruit holes’ to small to put your fingers through but your baby will love it.