Friendship

Do You Want to Be My Friend? which was published forty years ago in 1971 is my favorite book. It has only eight words. But it's not a simple book. It's a guessing game: what animal is attached to each tail? And a mystery: why is there a green border on the bottom of every page? And it is a story about friendship. Friendship is very important to children, adults sometimes forget that.


When I was six years old my parents and I moved from Syracuse NY, where I was born, to Germany. Almost daily, I would ask them "When are we going home?"


Soon after our move to Germany, I received a letter from my friend Carlton Mayer in Syracuse. "Dear Eric," he wrote. "I would licke to see you so bad wen are you koming back again?" Twenty years later, I arrived at his doorstep and he recognized me. "You're Eric!" he said. I still have his precious letter and in my heart Do You Want to Be My Friend? is for Carlton.

Posters

These are posters I designed before I started to illustrate picture books.



My first job when I was 20 years old was at the Amerika Haus U.S. Information Center in Germany where I worked as a poster designer.



I am still very proud of these and often think of my book covers (and inside pages) as little posters. I hope you will enjoy them!

Meeting Tomi Ungerer

Bobbie and I spent this past weekend in Massachusetts where we thoroughly enjoyed meeting Tomi Ungerer and his lovely family. An exhibit of Tomi's work, Tomi Ungerer, Chronicler of the Absurd is currently on view at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

This weekend was the first time Tomi and I met in person, although we both came to New York in the early 1950's where with just a few dollars in our pockets we planned to begin our careers. Tomi started to work in children's picture book illustration soon after he arrived, and I worked in the field of graphic design for a number of years before I began making picture books. It was a great honor to meet and I am very happy to have Tomi's work on exhibit during this year of his 80th birthday. I hope you will come and see the show!

You can preview Tomi's exhibit here.

A story and a star

My mother's mother, my maternal grandmother, used to tell me stories, as I have mentioned in earlier blog posts. She also taught me how to draw an 8-pointed star. As she scribbled a star on a scrap of paper, she would say this poem, in German:

Kri Kra Kroten-Fuss, Gänse Laufen Bar-Fuss

The translation is as follows:

Kri Kra Toad's Foot, Geese Walk Bare-foot

I think this nonsense poem was based on German folklore. It's a totally unknown story that I've never come across anywhere else. Most likely my grandmother remembered it from her own childhood. But this was how I learned to make a star. And out of this memory of my grandmother's story, of her showing me how to draw a star, along with a dream I had about a falling star, came my book, Draw Me A Star!

Now you too can try to draw an 8-pointed star. See if you can do it without lifting your pen from the paper!

Looking forward to July 16, 2011

I can't wait for my annual book signing at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art on July 16, 2011. Hope to see you there!

All Around the World

I am delighted that my books are enjoyed in different countries and are being read in so many different languages. The Very Hungry Caterpillar has been translated into more than 50 languages! I think that part of the reason it appeals to so many people is because of its hopeful message. Here are a few book covers in a variety of languages from around the world including Greek, Urdu, Arabic, Thai, Chinese, Italian and Russian. Many thanks to all of my foreign publishers for printing my book in your beautiful languages and to readers everywhere!

Happy Spring and Summer to All!