Eric Carle Books showcasing My Very First Library

Eric Carle books consist of over 70 original publications since his first written and illustrated book 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo . Most famous for his 1969 publication the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle has enjoyed an amazing children’s books publishing career with numerous best sellers.

Eric Carle’s life began in Syracuse, New York in 1929 before his parents moved back to Stuttgart, Germany when he was six years old. During the second World War, his father was imprisoned by Russians for eight years while he was recruited to dig trenches in the Sigfried lines when he was 15, witnessing death and hardship and ultimately experiencing the destruction of his home.

As soon as he could, Eric Carle moved to New York City in 1952 with $45 to his name and a desire to become an artist. He landed a job as a graphic designer with the New York Times before being drafted into the U.S. Army and stationed in Germany during the Korean War.

Upon his arrival, he continued his work at the New York Times and ultimately became an art director for a New York advertising agency. He was soon after approached by a children’s book author and asked to illustrate for the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?.

The book became an instant success and began legendary line of Eric Carle books.

Eric Carle fuses his love of nature with collaged images created by individually painted pieces of paper composed together to form lively, multi dimensional and colorful images.

With our recent addition to our children’s books library, My My Very First Library (Board book) showcases four Eric Carle books including My Very First Book of Colors, My Very First Book of Shapes, My Very First Book of Numbers and My Very First Book of Words.

This wonderful collection of hard board books demonstrates Eric Carle’s style with beautifully colored images and animals while closely tying the artwork to nature based inspirations. Books like My Very First Book of Shapes divide its pages in half and allow our children to match shapes to familiar images in nature, such as Crescent with Moon and Semi Circle with a slice of Watermelon.

Aimed at children ages 4 to 8, our 3 year old son really likes these books and matches the shapes, numbers, colors and words with a sinister and proud smile on his face. It is however our youngest girl’s absolute favorite! At 22 months old, she doesn’t always match the half pages to its respective image, but she repeats the words and numbers while speaking her current favorite phrase, “what is this?”

At first I was answering her questions, but later I decided to just watch and see what she would say. Sure enough, she started answering her own questions with the correct answers. She really likes the entire My Very First Library collection, but I think her favorite book is My Very First Book of Colors in which she very strongly identifies with images of her favorite thinks like butterflies and ladybugs. And the images, true to Eric Carle books, are vibrant and beautifully made!

It is the cutes thing to watch her point to her favorite images and ask, “What is this?” and answer, “Butterfly, Ladybug, Bird, Ten, Six, Sun, Moon.....” These books really bring out the cute in her!

Father to a son and a daughter, Eric Carle now divides his time between the Hills of North Carolina and the Florida Keys. Eric Carle opened The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts in 2002.

While our Eric Carle books collection is still young, our current experience and our daughter’s love for his books will certainly inspire our collection to grow.

My Very First Library (Board book)