Topline
The Very Hungry Caterpillar hit the top of Amazon’s bestselling book chart after author and illustrator Eric Carle died this week at age 91, but Publishers Weekly’s bestseller list shows the beloved classic has been among the most popular children’s books every week for nearly two decades, besting other iconic picture books.
Chloe Breyer, right, and her son Ansel Scholl, 2, read his copy of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" at ... [+]
Key Facts
A board book version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which was first published in 1969, was No. 1 on Amazon’s bestseller chart Thursday before sliding to No. 2 in the afternoon, with a hardcover edition of the book also high on the list at No. 28.
Even before news of Carle’s death was made public Wednesday, the book had earned the No. 2 spot on Publishers Weekly’s most recent bestseller list for children’s picture books for the week ending May 15.
The book has been on the list consistently for 997 weeks, according to Publishers Weekly, or approximately 19 years.
That’s longer than any other book on the Publishers Weekly list except for Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, which has been on the list for 1,057 weeks—and was also illustrated by Carle.
Other children’s classics haven’t been on the list as consistently: Dr. Seuss’ Oh, The Places You’ll Go!, the best selling book of the week, has only been on the list for 19 weeks, while Goodnight Moon has been on for 56 weeks, for instance.
According to NPD BookScan data published by Publishers Weekly, 219,647 print copies have been sold of The Very Hungry Caterpillar in the U.S. so far this year, and 610,032 copies were sold in 2020—more than any other hardcover children’s book that wasn’t a new release.
Big Number
More than 55 million. That’s how many copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar have been sold worldwide, Penguin Random House told the New York Times. Carle sold more than 170 million books in total over the course of his career.
Surprising Fact
According to the publishing house, a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar is sold somewhere in the world every 30 seconds. The book has been translated into more than 70 languages.
Key Background
Carle passed away Sunday at his summer studio in Northampton, Massachusetts, of kidney failure, his family announced Wednesday. Born in 1929, the prolific author and illustrator published his first book — Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? — in 1967, and had published more than 70 books by the time of his death. Carle was known for his colorful artwork depicting nature and animals, working in a collage style that combines layers of paint and tissue paper to create his signature textured illustrations. His work earned him numerous accolades, including the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in 2003 and eight honorary degrees. In addition to the work he published, Carle also founded The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts in 2002 with his late wife, Bobbie, who died in 2015.
Further Reading
Eric Carle, Acclaimed Author Of ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar,’ Dies At 91 (Forbes)
Eric Carle, Author of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar,’ Dies at 91 (New York Times)
This one's got legs (The Guardian)
