Topline
Eric Carle, the author and illustrator best known for his colorful, collaged children’s books inspired by nature like the bestselling The Very Hungry Caterpillar, died Sunday at age 91, according to a message the Carle family posted to the author’s website Wednesday.
Eric Carle stands with large cutout of the iconic image from his children's book, "The Very Hungry ... [+]
Key Facts
Carle’s son Rolf told the New York Times his father died of kidney failure in Northampton, Massachusetts, where the author kept a summer studio.
Carle was one of the most prolific figures in children’s literature, having illustrated more than 70 children’s books throughout his career.
His most well-known book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has sold over 50 million copies and been translated into 66 languages since it was published in 1969.
Most of Carle’s work featured colorful representations of animals and nature, inspired by the long morning walks Carle took with his father growing up, which resonated with generations of young children.
A guestbook has been set up on Carle’s author website for fans to leave messages and memories.
Big Number
152 million. That’s how many copies of Carle’s books have been sold worldwide.
Key Background
Carle was born in 1929 to German immigrant parents in Syracuse, New York, who moved back to Germany when Carle was 6. He grew up in Germany during World War II and was conscripted at age 15 to dig trenches along the Siegfried line, which guarded Germany’s western border. Carle was inspired as a teenager by his high school art teacher, Herr Kraus, who introduced him to colorful, expressionist artists like Paul Klee, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, whose work was banned in Nazi Germany. “I didn't have the slightest idea that something like that existed, because I was used to art being flag-waving, gun-toting Aryans,” Carle told The Guardian in 2009. “That was art ... That was a shock." After the war, Carle graduated from a prestigious art school in Germany before returning to the U.S. in his early 20s. Carle worked as a graphic designer at the New York Times and as an art director at an advertising agency before he was approached by children’s author Bill Martin Jr. to illustrate a book called Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? that was published in 1967. It kicked off Carle’s career as a children’s author. Carle was preceded in death by his wife, Bobbie, who passed away in 2015. Before their deaths, the two founded an art museum together called The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.
