he was a big fat caterpillar
A month or two ago NPR ran a fascinating interview with Eric Carle in honor of his birthday or the anniversary of the Hungry Caterpillar, I can’t remember which one. The striking part was the tales of Carle during World War II. To avoid going hungry, he took a job in a military CX, where for months he squirreled away things that were eventually immortalized by the Caterpillar’s menu: half-eaten ice cream cones, a pickle, swiss cheese, etc. These were the only things that Carle ate for months, making the Caterpillar a sad and inspiring character and taking the book from a regular, albeit beautiful, two dimensional story to a tale with depth and meaning.
