Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar first ate his way from baby caterpillar to beautiful butterfly 45 years ago and to celebrate the book's birthday, we have pulled together this gorgeous gallery of images. The Very Hungry Caterpillar has since been translated into over 55 languages and holds the honour of being the most read children's book in the UK
Wed 26 Mar 2014 07.20 GMT First published on Wed 26 Mar 2014 07.20 GMT
Here's the original The Very Hungry Caterpillar cover when the book was published by Puffin in 1969. But when he first wrote it, Eric Carle named the book A Week With Willi Worm... wonder if it would have become the UK's most read children's book – read on average nine times a year by each child in the UK – if that name had stuck. One things for sure Willi Worm wouldn't have changed into a beautiful butterfly!
Author and illustrator Eric Carle with his children in the late 1960s, around the time when the Very Hungry Caterpillar was first published. Eric was living in New York when he created The Very Hungry Caterpillar and had been making holes in paper with a hole punch when he had the idea to do the same in a book. Photo used with permission from the Eric Carle Studio. Photograph: Eric Carle Studio/Eric Carle Studio Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
A more recent picture of Eric Carle in his studio, still cutting up paper and making a mess! Eric has now written and illustrated more than 70 books. Photo used with permission from the Eric Carle StudioPhotograph: Motoko Inoue/Motoko Inoue Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
One of the beautiful spreads from the book: "One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and – pop! – out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar..."
A survey to mark the 45th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar on what the caterpillar should eat if a new book was written included suggestions for bananas and broccoli. But here in this image we see what that naughty bug really did eat that fateful Saturday, and that was... 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. That night he had a stomach ache!
Here we see Eric Carle reading from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but Eric's favourite book he has written is actually Do You Want to Be My Friend. Used with permission from the Eric Carle Studio.
To celebrate the landmark anniversary, Puffin has released a special 45th anniversary edition of the bestselling story and it's sure to keep being read for many years to come (can't stick your fingers into holes on a Kindle can you?).
A very lovely big caterpillar helping to launch The Giant Wiggle with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a charity event with Action for Children for the 45th anniversary of the book.
