{"id":543375,"date":"2010-04-26T13:26:27","date_gmt":"2010-04-26T17:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=44544"},"modified":"2010-04-26T13:26:27","modified_gmt":"2010-04-26T17:26:27","slug":"for-the-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/543375","title":{"rendered":"For the children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since it was first published 41 years ago, a copy of acclaimed author and illustrator Eric Carle<\/a>\u2019s children\u2019s book \u201cA Very Hungry Caterpillar\u201d has been sold every minute somewhere in the world. Carle, 81, is still surprised and humbled that his work has become so accepted and well-loved by readers and educators.<\/p>\n

Carle shared his story of becoming a \u201cgood picture writer\u201d at a packed Harvard Graduate School of Education<\/a> (HGSE) Askwith Forum last Thursday (April 22). Since \u201cCaterpillar\u201d was published, Carle has illustrated more than 70 books \u2014 many of them best-sellers and most of which he also wrote. More than 90 million copies of his books have sold around the world. His work is even in a museum, the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Books<\/a>, in Amherst, Mass., which aims to inspire children and families to appreciate and understand picture book art.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an educator, you can appreciate Eric Carle\u2019s great work on so many levels,\u201d said HGSE Dean Kathleen McCartney<\/a>. \u201cThese books are perfect teaching tools. They utilize predictions, patterns, and picture cues \u2026 and they foster emotional development.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, for many at HGSE \u2014 including McCartney \u2014 the fondness for Carle\u2019s books goes beyond the educational and into the personal. McCartney talked about Carle\u2019s \u201cBrown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?\u201d and recalled that \u201cMy daughter Kimberly\u2019s first word was not \u2018mama\u2019 \u2014 it was \u2018bear.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

HGSE was the first school of education that Carle has addressed, and he said he was in awe of speaking to a roomful of educators. \u201cI know so little about education,\u201d Carle said as the audience chuckled. \u201cIt\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his own education was a \u201cdisaster,\u201d and he dropped out by 16. But many of Carle\u2019s teachers and mentors encouraged him to pursue his talents along the way. In fact, it was a teacher who first noticed Carle\u2019s penchant for drawing and told his parents to nurture his talent. While Carle was growing up in Germany, his father taught him about nature and perspective in comic books, fueling his passion for art. However, as a pre-teen and teenager Carle did not see his father, who had been drafted to fight in World War II.<\/p>\n

During this time, Carle\u2019s grandfather encouraged him to be a doctor or a dentist, which he rejected. This greatly disappointed his grandfather, who told Carle he\u2019d amount to nothing in life. Instead Carle followed his heart, using color, texture, nature, and friendships as muses \u2014 themes that are directly reflected in his work to this day. As he grew older, he had more teachers and mentors, many of whom \u201copened doors\u201d secretly showing him abstract art, which was considered degenerative and socially forbidden in Germany at the time.<\/p>\n

When Carle arrived in 1950s America, he had built up a significant portfolio. He landed work as a designer at The New York Times and later at an advertising agency. In 1967, Carle illustrated \u201cBrown Bear\u201d for writer Bill Martin Jr., which prompted him to leave the advertising business to pursue more creative work.<\/p>\n

While working on a cookbook, Carle was asked to illustrate more children\u2019s books.\u00a0 He pondered becoming an author himself, though he admitted he wasn\u2019t strong on grammar, spelling, or commas, which he quipped was why his first book, \u201c1, 2, 3, to the Zoo,\u201d only had pictures.<\/p>\n

Now,\u00a0 \u201cI really do the books for myself \u2014 it sounds arrogant, but that\u2019s how it\u2019s done,\u201d he said, noting that in 99.9 percent of cases it is more of a free-flow process that\u2019s intuitive. To this day, Carle said, \u201cDo You Want to Be My Friend?\u201d is his favorite, though not his most successful, book.<\/p>\n

Although Carle said he felt terrible for not providing \u201chelpful hints that might advance your work as educators,\u201d many attendees took the time to thank him for how his books had impacted their own teaching.<\/p>\n

Calling Carle an \u201camazing educator,\u201d a teacher of 20 years said that he truly is a gift. \u201cNothing that I have seen in all my years of experience or the three education degrees I\u2019ve earned connects with children the way your work does,\u201d the teacher said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since it was first published 41 years ago, a copy of acclaimed author and illustrator Eric Carle\u2019s children\u2019s book \u201cA Very Hungry Caterpillar\u201d has been sold every minute somewhere in the world. Carle, 81, is still surprised and humbled that his work has become so accepted and well-loved by readers and educators. Carle shared his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-543375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}