Discover the Best Books Written by Eric Carle

Eric Carle (June 25, 1929 – May 23, 2021) was an American author, designer, and illustrator of children's books. His picture book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, first published in 1969, has been translated into more than 66 languages and sold more than 50 million copies. His career as an illustrator and children's book author took off after he collaborated on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? He illustrated more than 70 books, most of which he also wrote, and more than 145 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.

In 2003, the American Library Association awarded Carle the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (now called the Children's Literature Legacy Award), a prize for writers or illustrators of children's books published in the U.S. who have made lasting contributions to the field. Carle was also a U.S. nominee for the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010.

Carle was born on June 25, 1929, in Syracuse, New York, the son of Johanna (née Oelschlaeger) and Erich W. Carle, a civil servant. When he was six years old, his mother, homesick for Germany, led the family back to Stuttgart. He was educated there and graduated from the local art school, the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart. His father was drafted into the German army at the beginning of World War II (1939) and taken prisoner by the Soviet forces when Germany capitulated in May 1945. He returned home in late 1947 weighing 85 pounds (39 kg). Carle told The Guardian years later that his father was a broken man when he came back. He was a "sick man. Psychologically, physically devastated."

Carle was sent to the small town of Schwenningen to escape the bombings of Stuttgart. When he was 15, the German government conscripted boys of that age to dig trenches on the Siegfried Line. He did not care to think about it deeply and said his wife thought he suffered from post-traumatic stress.

Do you know about the Siegfried line? To dig trenches. And the first day, three people were killed a few feet away. None of us children -- Russian prisoners and other conscripted workers. The nurses came and started crying. And in Stuttgart, our hometown, our house was the only one standing. When I say standing, I mean the roof and windows are gone, and the doors. And, well, there you are.

Always homesick for the United States, he dreamed of returning home one day. He eventually made it to New York City in 1952 with only $40 in savings and landed a job as a graphic designer in the promotion department of The New York Times. He was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War and stationed in Germany with the 2nd Armoured Division as a mail clerk. After discharge, he returned to his old job with The New York Times. Later he became the art director of an advertising agency.