"The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

Summary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The hungry caterpillar is a story about a caterpillar who eats a lot in preparation of his life change into a butterfly.  The beautiful illustrations that is synonymous with Eric Carle's style is done with collages of different colored tissue paper.

Carle, E. (1987).  The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  New York, New York:  Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated. 

Personal Impressions of The Very Hungry Caterpillar
This is my autistic son's favorite book!  He loves to name off the foods as the caterpillar eats.  I love to read it to him as his language is limited and it brings joy to my heart to hear him speak.  Since he is a visual learner, I believe the illustrations highly contribute to his love of the book.  On a side note, we have the board book version; a necessary choice because of his tendency to tote this book wherever we go.

Reviews of The Very Hungry Caterpillar
"One Sunday a very hungry caterpillar hatched. He eats his way through a variety of foods that are boldly and colorfully illustrated. The story progresses with the caterpillar spinning a cocoon and waking up into a butterfly, illustrating one of nature's common but lovely marvels."
Review by Children's Literature and Retrieved from Barnes & Noble on September 14, 2010.

"This book enables the teacher to raise the language awareness of the whole class as they follow the evolution of the caterpillar in days, foods and numbers."
Review by Bowker's Books in Print and Retrieved on September 14, 2010.

Suggestions for Use in Library or School
This book is made for storytelling.  There are numerous storytelling kits available for this book; feltboard figures, puppets, and manipulatives to name a few.  Another great choice available this year is the new release of a pop-up version.  Select one of the above for a presentation.  So many crafts could also be created.  Try a colored tissue paper collage of a butterfly. Let the children piece together different colors of tissue to form the shape of a butterfly.  For extra fun, use the bleeding kind of tissue and spray with water. Create a cut-out window shape of a butterfly on two pieces of paper. Then place the tissue sprayed with water inside the two windows and glue together for a stained glass look.