This all-time favorite not only follows the very hungry caterpillar as it grows from egg to cocoon to beautiful butterfly, but also teaches the days of the week, counting, good nutrition and more. Striking pictures and cleverly die-cut pages offer interactive fun.
Reviews:
“This early work by a premier author marked an exciting breakthrough in the traditional children’s book format. Carle uses clever cutout pages to depict a caterpillar eating his way through the calendar week. Caterpillar also brilliantly displays Carle’s ability to integrate a concept (days of the week), scientific information (the life cycle of a caterpillar), and an appealing story. (Ages 3-6)”
– by Judith Rovenger, Sesame Street Parents, July/August 1994
“Carle’s classic tale of a voracious caterpillar who eats his way through the days of the week and then changes into a beautiful butterfly has been reissued in a sumptuous twenty-fifth anniversary edition with a shiny, silver-coated cover and wonderfully thick, durable pages.”
-The Horn Book Guide Volume VI, Number 1 July-December 1994
“The very hungry caterpillar literally eats his way through the pages of the book—and right into your child’s heart…”
-Mother’s Manual
“Gorgeously illustrated, brilliantly innovative…”
-The New York Times Book Review
“Every child should experience this wonderful, cumulative story, with its brightly coloured pictures of the tiny but greedy caterpillar that eats his way through one apple, two plums and three pears before turning into a beautiful butterfly. The board version stands up well to the inevitable poking of little fingers through the holes in the pages. (2-4 yrs)”
-Kirkus UK
Reviews for The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pop-up Book
“To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Carle’s classic Very Hungry Caterpillar, Philomel has published a new pop-up version. Although the concept is more inspired than the execution, there are moments of brilliance, particularly when a fabulous, foil-enhanced butterfly gloriously pops up from its cocoon on the final spread. To get to that point, the caterpillar must first find food, a journey that begins interactively with a turning wheel that guides him, inchworm-fashion, across the page. His Monday-through-Friday feasting takes place on fruit that pops up; each somewhat fragile apple, pear, plum, and strawberry contains a hole for toddler fingers to poke and pull, so the life expectancy of this spread is limited at best. Saturday’s gorging is difficult to see without holding the book at an awkward angle, a problem compounded by an added flap proclaiming “That night he had a stomachache!” and using an inner turning circle to show said caterpillar’s discomfort. This touch is clever paper engineering, but the effect is an additional page turn that interferes with the plot’s trajectory. For a coffee-table book, this edition has much to offer; for a beloved title for children, go back to the original. b.c”
-The Horn Book July/August 2009
“In honor of the 40th anniversary of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar comes the first-ever pop-up edition of this book. When the familiar, tiny caterpillar pops out of his egg, a dial lets readers help him chug across Carle’s earthy color palette. Next, the caterpillar eats his way through a week’s worth of pop-up fruit, as well as a full-page display of sweet and savory treats, (resulting in a stomach-ache), before his eventual transition into a butterfly. The pop-ups, particularly a half-cylinder tree trunk that sprouts from the center of the spread and a large accordion-like cocoon, are well executed and engaging. While the prominent use of white space lends a sparser feel than in the picture book, the shimmering wings of the pop-up butterfly dazzle on the final spread. Ages 3–up.(Mar.)”
-Publishers Weekly 3/2/09
