And for dessert..... (The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle)

Member Name: Krystal

Product:	The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
Date:	26/06/01 (142 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Charming little story, Educational

Disadvantages: N/A

I must admit I hadn't heard of The Very Hungry Caterpillar until my son started primary school last September. Our family love books and visit the library regularly, but somehow I hadn't discovered this little book.

It's a simple tale of a tiny caterpillar's transformation into a beautiful butterfly, beginning with the egg stage.

It's night time, and the little egg is lying on a leaf. On the next day, which is Sunday, the sun rises and the egg hatches. A tiny green caterpillar appears, and he is VERY hungry - well wouldn't you be after being cooped up in an egg?

Our little green hero is on the lookout for food, and lots of it. This is his menu for the week:

Monday - one apple
Tuesday - two pears
Wednesday - three plums
Thursday - four strawberries
Friday - five oranges

There are holes in each of these pages to show how the caterpillar munches his way through the fruit, which my son thinks is great. He is amazed at the amount of food the caterpillar consumes; it's as much as I can do to get him to eat a few grapes, let alone any of the above!

Not content with all that fruit, the caterpillar still has the munchies and on Saturday goes on what can only be described as a binge. He stuffs himself with a piece of chocolate cake, an ice cream cone, a pickle, a slice of Swiss cheese, a slice of salami, a lollipop, a piece of cherry pie, a sausage, a cupcake and a slice of watermelon.

"Wow" said my son, obviously impressed. "Is he going to be sick?"

Well, he isn't sick but understandably he does have quite a stomach ache!

A full week in the caterpillar's life has now passed, and it's Sunday. He feels the need to detox and all he eats today is a green leaf. He is now absolutely ENORMOUS after all that food, and hides himself away inside a cocoon. Two weeks go by, and the caterpillar emerges as a beautiful, colourful butte
rfly.

This book has quickly become a firm favourite in our house; although my son can't read properly yet he takes great delight in reciting it from memory, especially the list of what the caterpillar eats.

It's educational too, as it teaches children the days of the week, numbers and the names of various fruits and other food.

I didn't realise that The Very Hungry Caterpillar had been around for so long (1970), but it has an endearing quality that guarantees its continuing popularity. Definitely one that should be on every child's bookshelf.

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