Coming to the book fair at Barnes and Noble on March 8th and 9th? In addition to our various performers, we'll be featuring some crafts revolving around flowers and caterpillars. And I'm beginning my series of book reviews today with some related titles you might look for while you're there.
First, a book for babies and toddlers. If you're a new parent, you might not yet know Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Carle is justly famous for his gorgeous illustrations, formed as collages from handpainted paper. But his stories are just as compelling. This is the story of a little caterpillar who eats and eats and eats until, at last, he is transformed into a butterfly. Like other great books for the littlest children, it works on many levels. The story itself, a kind of tall tale, as the little caterpillar eats increasingly unbelievable quantities of food, always pleases toddlers. The progress from the quiet darkness of the opening to the exciting brilliance of the ending makes for a great read. And the story is constructed so that talking about the days of the week and about numbers becomes an obvious preoccupation for those who love this story, (since on Monday, the caterpillar eats one apple, on Tuesday, two pears, and so on). Carle has written abut other insects, too, in The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Busy Spider, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, The Very Lonely Firefly, and The Grouchy Ladybug.
If you're going to get another Eric Carle book, because you already know and love him, or because you're growing beyond these books for the littlest readers, look for The Tiny Seed. It's the story of a seed blown by the wind into the path of many dangers. But by virtue of its size, it remains safe--safe from the hot sun, safe from the cold mountain, safe from the wet ocean and safe from the dry desert, safe from the hungry bird and the hungry mouse. Along with only three other seeds, it has the chance to sprout. But even now, their futures are uncertain. In the end, only the tiny seed grows--into a huge and beautiful sunflower, that itself produces many tiny seeds. Like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, this book fascinates children who are learning about metamorphoses, from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly, and from seed to sprout to flower to seed. And more importantly, it really resonates with children who are feeling their smallness in the world, because of the way in which it suggests that smallness can be strength.
