Eric Carle

Eric Carle (2009)

Eric Carle (born June 25, 1929 in Syracuse , New York , † May 23, 2021 in Northampton , Massachusetts ) was a German-American children's author . His picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar achieved worldwide fame .

Life

His parents were the German emigrants Johanna and Erich Carle, who returned to Germany with him in 1935 because he was homesick . When the Second World War broke out, his father, to whom he was very attached, was drafted into the Wehrmacht and was taken prisoner by the Soviets , from which he returned in 1947. At the age of 15, Eric Carle was forcibly assigned to the Siegfried Line as a Hitler Youth to dig fortifications and trenches. In an interview he described how he had to see three prisoners of war from the Soviet Union just a few meters away from himwere shot. From 1935 to 1952 he lived in Stuttgart , where he attended the Leibniz Gymnasium . There, after completing a year and a half training as a typesetter , he studied with Ernst Schneidler at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and learned the collage technique . He returned to the United States in 1952 with only $ 40 in his pocket and was employed in the New York Times' advertising department on the recommendation of Leo Lionni . Due to the conscription in the USA during the Korean War , he was drafted and stationed as a soldier in the US Army for two years in Germany, where he met his first wife Dorothea Wohlenberg, whom he married after returning to the USA in 1954. In 1956 he moved from the New York Times to an advertising agency that advertised drugs and stayed with it until 1963. He then worked as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator , mainly creating book covers and advertisements .

The first children's book that Carle illustrated was Brown Bear, Who Do You See? by Bill Martin from 1967. In 1968 he published his first picture book (1, 2, 3 a train to the zoo) . Shortly thereafter, in 1969, the picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar was published , with which he established his international success as a children's book author and illustrator. Carle's picture books are characterized by large, colorful collages .

From 1988 to 2002 Eric Carle lived in Northampton in the US state of Massachusetts . In 2002 he opened a museum for picture book art in Amherst, Massachusetts. In the same year he moved into a villa in the Florida Keys and sold his house in Northampton. In 2015, his second wife, to whom he had been married since 1973, died. Carle had close ties to Germany throughout his life and spoke German without an accent with a clear Swabian touch. His younger sister Christa Bareis, to whom Carle dedicated the picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar , lives in Leonberg near Stuttgart.

In May 2021, Eric Carle died of kidney failure . He left a daughter and a son from his first marriage.

Awards (selection)

• Bologna Ragazzi Award :
  • 1970: Premio Grafico Fiera di Bologna per l'Infanzia for 1, 2, 3 a train to the zoo
  • 1986: Honorable Mention for Papa, please get the moon from the sky for me
• In 2001 he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his artistic work and mediation between cultures.
• In 2003 he received the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for Great Merit in Children's Literature.
• On May 8, 2010, Eric Carle was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg by Prime Minister Stefan Mappus .

Carle also holds an honorary doctorate from Bates College .

Works (selection)

• Bill Martin (Illustrations by Eric Carle): Brown Bear, Brown Bear, who do you see? Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1967, ISBN 978-3-8369-4202-7 .
• 1, 2, 3 a train to the zoo (1968), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-5132-1 .
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-4259-1 .
• The pancake book (1970), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-5056-0 .
• Just a small seed (1970), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 3-8067-4346-0 .
• The little mouse is looking for a friend (1971), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-4691-9 .
• The secret of the eight characters (1972), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-4237-9 .
• Theobald der Brezelbäcker (Walter the Baker) (1972), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-5456-3 .
• In the evening Artur ate pineapple (1974), Gerhard Stalling Verlag, ISBN 3-7979-2219-1 .
• The Little Beetle Immerfrech (1977), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-4276-8 .
• Tschip has many brothers (1983), text by Hans Baumann , Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-4012-7 .
• Chameleon Kunterbunt (1984), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-4250-8 .
• The little spider spins and is silent (1984), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-4150-1 .
• Have a good trip, colorful rooster (1984), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-4941-0 .
• Dad, please fetch the moon from the sky for me (1986), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-4220-6 .
• Where can my cat be (1989), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-4014-1 .
• Mal mir ein Stern (1993), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-4679-2 .
• Kleine Wolke (1996), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-4983-0 .
• From head to toe (1997), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-4923-1 .
• The little glow worm (1997), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-4218-8 .
• Hello red fox (1998), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-4239-8 .
• You have to click, little beetle (2000), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-4266-4 .
• And today is Monday (2002), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-4126-1 .
• Very, very slowly, said the sloth (2002), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-4982-3 .
• Mr. Seepferdchen (2005), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-5069-5 .
• 10 small rubber ducks (2005), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8067-5081-2 .
• My very first book of colors (2007), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-5151-7 .
• My very first book of words (2008), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-5182-1 .
• A kiss for the little beetle Immerfrech (2021), Gerstenberg Verlag, ISBN 978-3-8369-6107-3 .

Web links

• Eric Carle Official Homepage
• Literature by and about Eric Carle in the catalog of the German National Library
• Short biography and reviews of works by Eric Carle at perlentaucher.de
• Eric Carle at Gerstenberg-Verlag
• »We had nothing more to say to each other« , Focus , November 19, 2012

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Julia Carmel: Eric Carle, Author of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar,' Dies at 91. In: The New York Times , May 26, 2021. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
2. ↑ Interview with Eric Carle with The Guardian , March 14, 2009, accessed May 27, 2021
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Annette Kautt: Eric Carle. In: rosipotti.de. March 17, 2009, accessed May 28, 2021 . 
4. ↑ T. Kasischke: 50 million in 50 years, in: Der Sonntag, March 10, 2019, p. 20.
5. ↑ Sunday, June 29, 2014, p. 9.
6. ^ ^{A b} Fred A. Bernstein: Hungry Caterpillar in the Florida Keys . In: The New York Times . December 13, 2007, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed May 26, 2021]).
7. ↑ Mourning The Loss of Co-Founder Barbara Carle press release | Carle Museum. Retrieved May 26, 2021 . 
8. ↑ Interview in STERN NR. 45/2018, from October 31, 2018, p. 122. Children's author What actually does ... Eric Carle? In: stern.de . November 13, 2018, accessed May 28, 2021 . 
9. ↑ T. Kasischke: 50 million in 50 years, in: Der Sonntag, March 10, 2019, p. 20.