"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" – From Zero to Favorite in 2.3 seconds!
Written: Sep 27 '02 (Updated Sep 28 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cute story, beautiful illustrations, hearing Jake cry “beautiful butterfly!!!” with adorable enthusiasm.
Cons: NONE!!!
The Bottom Line: The Very Hungry Caterpillar….if the wonderful story doesn’t draw you in, the charming illustrations will!
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| BearySweet's Full Review: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Books |
Over the summer, my son and I attended Kindermusik classes. A friend of mine recently became a certified instructor and her friends and their children were her guinea pig class. The theme was “Welcome to my Backyard” and we spent 8 weeks of the summer singing and learning about different animals. Jake really enjoyed this class, but it wasn’t until the week we talked about caterpillars and butterflies that I saw what an impact it had on him. We sang songs about caterpillars becoming butterflies, crawled like caterpillars and flew (with colorful scarves) like butterflies. For the next week, Jake talked about those things constantly. He didn’t walk anymore; he flew like a butterfly everywhere we went. Although we had moved on to another theme the next week at Kindermusik, my friend, at Jake’s insistence, played the caterpillar/butterfly games and songs again.
With this newfound fascination, it was natural that I wanted to introduce Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar to Jake. When I was unable to locate my own copy, we headed out to the local library and picked up a copy. We almost wore that copy out before we had to return it, but I was lucky enough to find a copy at a second hand store for just $2.50! I snatched it up before anyone else could get it and practically skipped to the register!! Jake is still thrilled with my ‘find’ and asks to hear the story a couple times every day.
In The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle takes us on a caterpillar’s journey to becoming a butterfly. This isn’t just a regular caterpillar though, this is a very hungry caterpillar! Our fuzzy hero is no sooner hatched from his egg when he goes off in search of something to eat. Each day of the week the caterpillar eats a different type of fruit in increasing numbers. Monday is one apple, Tuesday is 2 pears, and Wednesday is 3 plums and so on. As the caterpillar grows his appetite grows as well until Saturday when he treats himself to a smorgasbord of varying food. He eats cake, ice cream, pickles, cheese, salami, a lollipop, pie, a sausage, a cupcake and a slice of watermelon! (Funny, that list doesn’t seem so odd when you are pregnant.) Of course after consuming all that he has a stomachache. He eats one leaf and feels better. Now our caterpillar has grown and builds his cocoon. A couple of weeks later he emerges as a beautiful butterfly.
There are many concepts you can reinforce with this book, colors, counting, days of the week, healthy vs. unhealthy foods, and the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly. Keep in mind however, there is little specific information about how the actual transformation happens so if your child tends to be deeply inquisitive, be prepared to answer these questions in further detail.
One of my favorite aspects of this book, as well as all other Eric Carle books, is the illustration. Carle uses a wonderful collage technique to create the bright, beautiful images found among the pages of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I did a bit of research to find out how exactly Carle created these images and on the official Eric Carle website I found that “His art work is created in collage technique, using hand-painted papers, which he cuts and layers to form bright and cheerful images.” This process creates such unique and beautiful animals within the pages of Carle’s books and The Very Hungry Caterpillar is no exception. The images are bright and colorful and his detail even gets all the way down to the expression on the caterpillar’s face. You will love the look on his face when he has a stomachache! But nothing can compare to the gorgeous 2 page layout of the butterfly at the end of the story. There is so much color and life; you expect the butterfly to flutter right off the pages!
I introduced this story to Jake during the summer and now he does most of the reading when we sit down with this book. He will tell me how many of each fruit the caterpillar eats and he always lets me know when the caterpillar is “still hungry”. Jake also likes to rattle off all the foods the caterpillar eats on Saturday. But most of all, I love to see the excitement build as we near the end of the book. Jake gets his arms ready as I turn the last page and he throws them triumphantly over his head and exclaims “a beautiful butterfly!!!”. Reading this classic story with my son has become such a treat; I think I look forward to it more than he does. If you have young children in your life, I highly recommend sharing The Very Hungry Caterpillar with them; it will be an experience for both of you to enjoy!
Copyright 1969, 1987 by Eric Carle
ISBN 0-590-03029-9
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
BearySweet
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Member: Michelle
Location: The Buckeye State
Reviews written: 85
Trusted by: 68 members
About Me:
Taking a break...life is a bit crazy right now.
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