Where I Live Now

Dear Friends,

Since turning 75 when I made the decision to retire from the daily office and studio work, I have been fortunate to live in two places of great beauty, spending the winter in one of the Florida keys and the summer in the mountains of North Carolina. My wife Bobbie is from North Carolina and still has friends and family nearby so we both feel right at home and taken in by the warmth of the community there. We have a view of the hills that are sometimes so covered in fog it is like an ocean of mist outside our windows. But the climate in the summer is very comfortable. For many years, we lived in the hills of western Massachusetts, also a beautiful area, (and we moved there from New York City! You see I have been moving around a lot!). We had a very nice flower garden there and I enjoyed watching out for visitors from the nearby forest including bears, deer, porcupines, foxes, skunks and many birds. Once I opened the door from the inside of the house and stood nose to nose with a bear, separated by the screen door only. I don't know who was more surprised! Then the bear ran away. Actually they are very shy.

In Florida, our home is very close to the water and we are constantly marveling at the view of the ocean, Ospreys and Pelicans flying past and Iguanas strutting among the palm trees and mangroves. This is very far from the kinds of views I had as a child in Germany, and yet the closeness to nature is not that different from what I enjoyed as a child when my father took me out for walks and showed me all that could be found on a trail in the woods.

I will turn 80 years old in June and it is wonderful to have these days by the sea and in the hills, with Bobbie and all of our close friends and family nearby or able to visit. And to have a studio to work in both places. I have no complaints.

Eric Carle

Japan Exhibit

Dear Friends,

I am fortunate to have been able to travel over the years. My visits to Japan have been very inspiring. In Japan, there are numerous Picture Book Museums, some small, some large, and it was during our visits to Japan that my wife Bobbie and I had the idea to build The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in the U.S.

This year there was an exhibit of my work, including non-book-art, in Japan that is still on tour. Since I turned 75 I have cut back on my travels quite a bit, but I was so pleased to see photographs of the opening exhibit in Tokyo taken by Motoko, my assistant of many years, who is originally from Japan as well as more recent photos from the exhibition in Kyoto. I hope you will enjoy these pictures!

More soon,
Eric Carle

P.S.

This exhibit will be on view at the following locations in Japan in 2008-2009:

JR Kyoto Isetan until 28 December, 2008

JR Nagoya Takashimaya 17 February - 2 March, 2009

Sogo Museum of Art 3 April - 6 May, 2009

Sapporo Daimaru 13 May - 25 May, 2009

Christmas Cookies

Dear Friends,

Happy Holidays!

While I wasn't raised in a religious family, we celebrated Christmas and there were certain rituals that coincided with this holiday that I still remember very well. Weeks ahead of Christmas both my grandmothers started baking cookies: SPRINGERLE HASELNUSSGUTSLE, STERNE, LEBKUCHEN, STOLLEN and other mouth watering creations - or should I say "tongue twisting" after you have attempted to pronounce the German names for all kinds of delicious goodies?

Then my grandmothers would hide the cookies. It was easy to figure out where they had hidden them, all you had to do was follow your nose. But that would lead you to a locked door! And you needed 2 keys. One for the locked door and a second key for a locked chest inside the locked room. Well, usually we grandchildren had a way of getting those keys. Then there was a lot of sneaking around and a greatly reduced stock of Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve!

Every year my grandmothers pretended that they were surprised and scolded us. And they were going to tell Saint Nicholas. But they never did and I suspect that they knew that cookie stealing was also part of Christmas. I guess they figured that some of the cookies were going to get "lost" and therefore made an extra batch or two.

Maybe you have a ritual in your family that you will remember for a long time as well!

Eric Carle

Resources on web site for teachers and parents

Dear Friends,
I am happy to announce that a new RESOURCES section has been added to the Official Eric Carle web site. I hope you will enjoy the materials and information in this section, including links to on line interviews and a downloadable sheet of instructions on how to make a collage illustration in the style of Eric Carle! You can also still visit the Caterpillar Exchange Bulletin Board. This is a bulletin board where educators can exchange their ideas on how they use my books in the classroom.

My background is in design, not education, but I feel strongly that children should be encouraged to learn in their own particular way and it always means a great deal to me when an educator finds my work valuable in the classroom.

I hope these materials will be useful for you at school or at home!
Eric Carle

Dear Friends,
I am recently back from 4th Annual Carle Honors Awards in New York City. This event celebrates and honors four people each year who have made a significant contribution to the world of picture books and is a fundraiser for The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

This year the honorees were author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, Museum benefactors Jim & Vanita Oelschlager, writer and lecturer Jim Trelease and editor Susan Hirschman.

This festive event was a great success, as was the auction of pieces created by 23 artists.

It was wonderful to see friends, authors and illustrators, as well as friends from the worlds of publishing and licensing. I said a few words at the Carle Honors and in my speech mentioned how recently, when I think of the Museum and life in general, the Beatles come to mind : It’s getting “betta” all the time! Here are some photos from this very special occasion and important fundraiser for the Museum. For information about the Museum, please visit www.carlemuseum.org Please visit sometime!
Eric Carle