"Board" with books

Book Review, The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Another book my son likes is Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. What a classic! Everybody knows this one. I grew up with it, and even my husband (who is eight years older than I am) had it as a boy. I love books like this one that are generational favorites.

Putting this book into board book format was a capital idea. The physically shorter pages with punch-outs that the caterpillar is eating through are one reason my son likes this book so much. Another reason he likes it is the rhythm. Again, rhythm keeps a hold on his fruit fly attention span. The mainstay of the book is the short repeated phrase “…but he was still hungry”. And yet the story is clever and meaningful.

Eric Carle’s line of baby products based on his famous book is also pretty clever. We have the alphabet and number flashcard sets. The cards are durable and large so it will be difficult (i.e. it will take longer) for Baby to destroy them. The pictures, based on Carle’s original artwork, are of course attractive to Baby’s eye… and mine – I’ve borrowed a few cards from his set to put into frames as nursery decor. I feel as though these flashcards are more sophisticated than your average set of baby cards. They provide opportunities to teach numbers as well as counting, colors, animals, the alphabet, and concepts such as ‘family’ (for example, ‘three’ foxes are depicted as one mommy and two babies).

Anyone smell a sales pitch?! :)