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Jim Gipe Photographer
Children's book author Eric Carle photographed in his North Carolina studio
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by Mary Beth Schwartz
When my boys were toddlers, they looked forward to weekly library trips. At first it was all Goodnight Moon; Guess How Much I Love You; Pat the Bunny. Then they took out a book called The Very Hungry Caterpillar. They were instantly mesmerized. They thought it was hysterical that a tiny caterpillar spent his entire Saturday gorging himself on junk food—chocolate cake, ice cream, a pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, lollipop, cherry pie, sausage, cupcake, even watermelon. The colorful pages of collage art had them hooked. For months on end, we only took out picture books by Eric Carle. (We had plenty of reading material: he wrote over 70 books in his lifetime.) Their world was filled with such delights as crickets, ladybugs, seahorses, brown bears, hermit crabs, rubber ducks, chameleons, blue horses, fireflies, spiders, purple cats, and red birds.
Now fast-forward to 2026, when my boys are now 15 and 18. One mention of the Small Living Things exhibition at the Michener Art Museum, and these cool teens were in. On our recent museum visit, they were magically whisked away to those days sitting on my lap on the couch reading Eric Carle’s books together. They picked up the books and read them, surrounded by art installations, still knowing the words by heart.
The Small Living Things exhibition, on display until May 24, highlights the small creatures from Eric Carle’s collection with original artwork from his well-known books The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Busy Spider, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, The Grouchy Ladybug, and more, as well as larger animals from the classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? collaboration with Bill Martin Jr. Museum visitors can see 86 of the famous author’s original illustrations of animals and insects up close, without a road trip to The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Small Living Things also features examples of process art and sketches, poster designs, an early advertisement, and objects representative of Eric Carle’s influence in contemporary culture—such as the McDonald’s Happy Meal toy series (1996) and an Eric Carle-inspired bronze statue by sculptor Nancy Schön, creator of the Make Way for Ducklingssculpture in the Boston Public Garden.
The exhibition is organized by The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Presented through the generosity of the Gorsky Family, with major support from Tim Griffith and Anne Corso, and additional support from Eiseman Exterior Renovations, Leff Family Foundation, and Lee and Carole Schram.
Associated with the exhibition are events for the young and young-at-heart, including stroller tours, craft workshops, animal visits, musical performances, garden events, and on-the-spot Storytime. A great family activity is the Caterpillar Crawl: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Ate Doylestown Scavenger Hunt. Families can check in with 26 shops in Doylestown to receive an exclusive prize at the museum. Completed cards must be submitted to the museum by May 24.
So don’t be a slow sloth or a foolish tortoise, rush to see the Small Living Things exhibition. Bring back those connections with your teens or start new ones with your toddlers.
Eric Carle
When Eric Carle was a boy, his father took him on walks in nature, peeled back the bark of a tree to show him the tiny creatures who lived underneath. “I think in my books, I honor my father by writing about small living things,” Eric Carle said. Animals and insects were a central theme in Eric Carle’s long career as a Picture Writer, a title given to him by a young reader. “To me pictures need writing and writing needs pictures. A child once called me a picture writer, and that’s a good way to describe me,” Carle wrote.
Image Credit: Eric Carle, 2015. © The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art Inc.