The 10 Best Eric Carle Books

I have to start with this iconic picture book. According to its publisher, a new copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar is bought every 30 seconds. It would be impossible to create a list of the best Eric Carle books and forget to include this classic. The story begins with a caterpillar hatching from an egg under the moonlight. Soon, the young larvae is eating his way through many foods before transforming into a butterfly. The bright, color-filled illustrations are certainly a large part of the book’s popularity. It also covers numbers, days of the week, and the life-cycle of a butterfly through the sparse words. Whatever the reason, young readers love this book. I know it’s one I made my mom read over and over and over to me when I was a child.

Another Eric Carle favorite, this is his first book created in collaboration with Bill Martin Jr. Published in 1967, the book helps children associate colors with different animals. The repetition of asking each animal, “what do you see?” also is perfect for reading aloud with preschool aged children. And with the whimsy of a blue horse, a purple cat, and a pink elephant, who wouldn’t be delighted by the illustrations?

This was my favorite Eric Carle book growing up. I think because I loved running my fingers over the spiderwebs. It tells the story of a focused spider trying to spin her web on a fence post. Animal after animal approach her asking her to play. But the spider refuses to be distracted. The book was designed to be multi-sensory, with both visual and tactile elements. The strands of the web are embossed onto the pages so readers can feel them as well as see them.

A hermit crab has outgrown his home and must look for a new shell. When he finds one that fits, it feels too empty and plain. Each month, he finds a new friend to join him on his shell from a sea star to an urchin to a sea anemone. At the end of the year, his shell is feeling too small again. But he doesn’t want to leave behind all his friends. When a smaller hermit crab comes by without a home, he decides to give the smaller crab his beautiful shell. And he finds a bigger shell that fits and begins the process all over again. This story is often used when kids move away. But I think it also has a wonderful message about learning to accept that change is an important part of life and to never be afraid of your own growth.

This is one of Eric Carle’s lesser known picture books that I love. It explains the phases of the moon, explores parental love and devotion, and plays with the picture book form. One night, a girl looks up at the moon and asks her father to bring it down to her. He whimsically builds a tall ladder to put on top of a tall mountain and reaches the moon. But he must wait until it becomes small enough to bring back down to his daughter. Every night it gets a little smaller, until it is just the right size. The girl loves playing with moon, but one day it disappears. The cycle is complete, when the moon appears back in the sky and begins getting a little bigger each night.