This is part 2 of Assignment 3, part 2. This is also for the "Features" section of the site.


ERIC CARLE


In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf.
On Sunday morning, the warm sun came up and pop! out of the egg came a tiny but very hungry caterpillar…


It’s hard to believe that The Very Hungry Caterpillar turns 40 this year, and its author – Eric Carle – has turned 80. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is still as popular as it was in 1969, and the caterpillar is still… well, very hungry!

One of the most common questions Eric gets from fans is: where did the idea for The Very Hungry Caterpillar come from?

There are many answers, Eric says. Some of the idea can be seen from when Eric Carle was a child. As a boy, Eric used to love walking in the woods with his father – and here, Eric learned to love bugs and animals. He says, "When I was a boy, my father would take me on walks across meadows and through woods. He would lift a stone or peel back the bark of a tree and show me the living things that lived underneath. These were very magical times and I think in my books I honour my father by writing about small creatures and the natural world. And in a way I recapture those happy times we had together." This love of nature is very clear in all of Eric’s books.

But ideas also come from just playing around. Eric says in an article from Scholastic that one day he was making holes with a holepunch and an idea came. "I playfully punched a hole into a stack of papers. I thought, a bookworm at work! Not enough for a book, but, nevertheless, a beginning." This developed into a book about a worm called Willi. It was Eric’s editor, though, who first gave him the idea for writing a story about a caterpillar, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar was born.

Today, the book has sold 29 million copies and is translated into 47 languages! The Telegraph notes that Eric has also written or illustrated over 70 picture books. These include The Very Busy Spider, The Very Quiet Cricket, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See, and The Mixed-Up Chameleon.

But The Very Hungry Caterpillar will probably always be his best-known book.

"My friends, my family, my editors, my publisher, we all wondered why it's been so successful," Eric told Newsweek. "It is a book about hope. If you're an insignificant caterpillar, you can grow up to be a big butterfly in the world."

If you haven’t yet been introduced to Eric Carle’s delightful illustrations and wonderful storytelling, now is the time to start!


Click here to watch a video of Eric Carle talking about his books!
Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com

GREAT BOOKS FOR GIRLS

This is 500-word article #3, as part of ASSIGNMENT 3 PART 2.

This article is for KidsReads.com, and is pitched for the "Features" section. Disclaimer: The link for "Great Books for Boys" on the website is shown, but the link itself appears to be broken on the site, which is why an error page comes up when the link is clicked. -CM

GREAT BOOKS FOR GIRLS

After our last story on Great Books for Boys, it’s time to look at some great books that every girl should read!


Charlotte's Web

HarperCollins

Zuckerman’s farm is full of animals, but the pig, Wilbur, is lonely and bored, and he misses his beloved owner Fern. That is until Charlotte, the beautiful grey spider, appears in the barn and vows to rescue Wilbur from a farm pig’s usual fate. Charlotte’s plot to save Wilbur’s life – with the unlikely help of Templeton the rat – has delighted children for generations.
Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg

Atheneum

Claudia is tired of being unappreciated at home. So, with her cheapskate brother Jamie, she hatches a plot to run away and live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. But Claudia and Jamie stumble on more than they bargained for when they discover Angel, the beautiful marble statue in the museum. What is Angel’s secret? Was she really sculpted by the great Michelangelo? And who is Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the statue’s enigmatic donor? Only Claudia and Jamie can find out!

Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

Signet Classics

“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug… So begins this famous story of the March family – Meg, the graceful oldest sister; the frank, spirited Jo; quiet Beth; and ambitious Amy. As their father fights in the war far away from home, the March girls each face their own troubles and triumphs – each learning in her own way how to become a “little woman”.

Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com

Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery

Grosset & Dunlap

Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert want to adopt a boy to help them take care of Green Gables, the home they’ve lived in for over fifty years. It’s the last thing they expect, then, when a clerical error brings them Anne Shirley instead – a dreamy, red-haired orphan girl with a talent for getting into scrapes. Anne’s adventures as she meets new friends, goes to school, schemes and dreams make for a great read for all ages!

Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com

A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Sterling

When nine-year-old Sara Crewe goes to live at Miss Minchin’s Academy for Young Ladies, she has everything she could want – a maid to wait on her, a room of her own, dozens of dresses, and a beautiful doll named Emily. She is treated like a little princess. But then tragedy strikes, and the cruel Miss Minchin takes away all of Sara’s wonderful things and forces her to work as a servant with the scullery maid, Becky. Can Sara still be a little princess when she’s in rags?

Click here to buy this book now from Amazon.com