Making pictures is how I express my truest feelings..."

Last week, famed author and illustrator, Eric Carle, died in his studio at the age of 91. Carle is most known for his legendary children’s books, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar which has sold more than 55 million copies to date. I have read his books countless times to my own children; Carle had a way of creating simple, memorable stories about living things, and capturing their beauty with his colorful illustrations.

Born in Syracuse, New York, Carle moved to Stuttgart, Germany with his family when he was six years old. His father was drafted into the German Army at the beginning of World War II, and was taken as a prisoner of war in Russia for over two years. When Carle was 15, he was conscripted to dig trenches in Western Germany. It was a time he didn’t speak about a lot, and he was extremely homesick for New York. He eventually made it back, working for The New York Times, as a graphic designer. He was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and returned back to his old job after his discharge.

It’s hard to believe that someone who saw so much destruction and violence would go on then to create dozens of children’s books. He once said that he created these stories to recapture some of the happy times of his childhood, and this may be perhaps why the stories have resonated with so many young people.

I do my best to simplify and refine, to be logical and harmonious. But I also try to keep an open mind, to listen to my intuition and allow for the unexpected, the coincidental, even the quirky to enter into my work. Ultimately, my aim is to entertain, and sometimes to enlighten, the child who still lives inside of me. This is always where I begin.
And just as in my boyhood, making pictures is how I express my truest feelings.

-- Eric Carle

And so today, I’m remembering the child who lives inside of me, and recalling the simple wonders of watching a caterpillar transform into a butterfly, or following different animals as they graze throughout a book.

-Reshma