Eric Carle: United States Illustrator

We have eyes, and we're looking at stuff all the time, all day long. And I just think that whatever our eyes touch should be beautiful, tasteful, appealing, and important.

Eric Carle

Eric Carle was born June 25, 1929, in Syracuse, New York to German immigrant parents. After spending his first year of school in the USA, Carle moved with his family back to Germany. Carle found his new schooling to be quite rigid; so, much later, as an adult artist, he wanted to use his experiences to create books that reassure children "that learning is really both fascinating and fun."

Carle returned to the USA in 1952 and began a career in graphic design. He was approached by author Bill Martin, Jr., who had seen a red lobster drawn by Carle, and they collaborated on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Carle had found his true calling, and went on to become one of the most prolific children's writers and illustrators of all time. His The Very Hungry Caterpillar book has been translated into 47 languages and has sold over 29 million copies. Cumulatively, his 80 books have sold over 88 million copies.

All Carle's books possess a distinctive artistic style, making them instantly recognizable. He works in collage, building up illustrations with handmade tissue papers and layers of paint, a result of painstaking thought and perfect attention to detail. Sometimes he incorporates crayon or acrylic paint for accent. Although Carle did not invent the book as toy, he expanded the concept with many creative variations, including fold-back pages, raised tactile images, lights that twinkle, acetate sheets that reveal more images when the page is turned, cut-out shapes, and strings to move die-cut images, to name a few.

Eric Carle's works have won many American and international children's book awards, including First Prize for Picture books at the Bologna International Children's Book Fair, the children's book Selection Du Grand Prize Treize France, the Japan Picture Book award for Lifetime Achievement, and the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award. Carle opened the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Massachusetts in 2002. It is the first full-scale museum devoted to national and international picture book art.