The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is Eric Carle's classic picture book about a tiny caterpillar who hatches from an egg on a leaf and eats his way through an extraordinary amount of food. Across the days of the week he works through fruit, cake, ice cream, and more, then wraps himself in a cocoon and emerges as a butterfly. Carle's boldly coloured collage illustrations and simple large-type text carry die-cut holes that let small hands follow the caterpillar straight through the pages. The story introduces counting and the days of the week while presenting change and growth as positive, necessary parts of life, and it has been a fixture of early childhood reading for generations.