Classics and Caterpillars and Chocolate Cake!

Reading List
Written By Rebecca Grabill

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, 1969.

Concept book in disguise!

A little caterpillar eats too much, gets a tummy ache, then rights his eating habits and turns into a butterfly. The story itself is engaging, but it also teaches the days of the week, counting, one-to-one correspondence (reinforced through the unevenly cut pages and tactile holes), nutrition and metamorphosis. Bright colors and lots of texture in the simple illustrations contrast with white space to make the book all at once straightforward but worth a few extra seconds per page of lingering.

No wonder this was a favorite when I was a child, and a favorite for my own children now. Pie and Fish especially love the page with the cupcake and watermelon and salami and sausage (shaushage, said Fish when he was younger). Of all Carle's books, this is my absolute favorite.

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Rebecca Grabill

Rebecca has been writing since childhood, her first book about a kitten published between homemade cardboard covers in second grade. Although she studied religion and philosophy in university, she continued writing, earning an MFA from Hamline University and publishing multiple picture books (no longer with homemade covers) and a collection of poetry with a variety of New York and independent publishers. She has also published a wide array of fiction, essays, and poetry in magazines and journals and photographs for Getty Images. She balances writing with homeschooling the younger of her six children, launching her young adults, church activities, and overseeing a small flock of chickens in rural West Michigan.

www.rebeccagrabill.com
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