Of course by the end of the day, he feels very ill indeed, with a stomach ache. “On Saturday, he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon.” There’s an apple on Monday, two pears on Tuesday, three plums on Wednesday, four strawberries on Thursday, and five oranges on Friday … and then, on Saturday, he gobbles down an enormous feast of all sorts of silly food: Over the next five days we see him eating through more and more fruit. He’s very hungry, so he begins to look for some food.

On the next morning, which is Sunday, a tiny red-faced caterpillar pops out of the egg. The story starts on a moonlit night, with a tiny egg on a leaf. “I said 'Butterfly!’ That’s how it began.” But did it begin there, or did it end? It’s rather like the chicken and the egg. The idea appealed to Eric Carle, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar is the result. “One day I was punching holes with a hole puncher into a stack of paper, and I thought of a bookworm and so I created a story called ‘A Week with Willi the Worm.’”īut his editor suggested that readers may not like a green worm very much, and suggested a caterpillar instead. Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter #prizesįun fact for today? A famous picture book, described as “one of the greatest childhood classics of all time” was actually inspired by … a simple hole punch! Straighten up and fly right and you too could become a beautiful butterfly and. A nice green leaf will sort you out.Ĥ/ Change is good. Our caterpillar ain't picky, he'll try anything once, even gherkin!ģ/ Eat healthy to avoid stomach ache. Our caterpillar just sticks a single hole in each food item - he ain't that sort of greedy, he'll leave some for others.Ģ/ Try new things. It is in fact one of the bestselling books in the history of literature!ġ/ Everything in moderation. Kids like sticking their fingers in things - genius!Īnyhow - this is one HUNGRY caterpillar! He puts a hole through everything be it a slice of watermelon (or wacca menon as my daughter first said it), ice cream cone, or sausage. Was it the first to put holes through its pages? Probably not, but it worked very well. In any event it's one of my favorites from my childhood, and from reading to my own kids. but perhaps he meant his kids' childhood). Bush named this his favorite book from childhood (it came out when he was 23.

The very hungry caterpillar food