The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of those books I remember from my childhood! This particular version that Bella owns is the small version. I am not particularly sure whether or not this book comes in a bigger size.
This book tells the tale of a very hungry caterpillar (the title kind of gives it away lol!) who goes on a search for some food. Each day he eats a variety of food and his appetite grows bigger and bigger and bigger. What a greedy little caterpillar he is! Eventually the caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly. There are some cleverely thought out holes on the pages where the caterpillar is supposedly eating the food items, this is especially useful for younger children as they will surely enjoy putting their tiny fingers through the holes.
This book is great because it is very bright and colourful, but it introduces several important topics;
1. Day and night time - at night he began as a little egg, but on Sunday morning he grew into a tiny caterpillar.
2. Time and days of the week - it takes time for the caterpillar to grow and change, the book also takes us through the days of the week showing the young reader what occurs on each day.
3. Counting - each day he ate something different, for eg on Monday he ate one apple on Tuesday he ate two pears, etc.
4. Growth and change - each day he grows more and changes daily, eventually he turns into a butterfly. This shows the young reader that like the caterpillar we all go through seasons and changes in life, meaning we eventually grow up too.
5. Food - in the first 5 days the caterpillar ate healthily and ate a lot of fruit. On Saturday he ate a variety of different food; salami, a sausage, a cupcake, a pickle, etc. This introduces the young reader to different food groups and also helps them to identify some if they are familiar with them. It also shows that when he consumed too much food he became sick, so on the 7th day he ate through a nice green leaf again which made him feel better.
Bella appears to enjoy this book and in particular pushing her fingers through the holes on some of the pages. In fact she has even started to nibble on the corner of the book, so this is one that will definitely have to be replaced!
With love,
Roxanne-Sasha x
