Early Life
Eric Carle was born in Syracuse, New York, on June 25, 1929 into a German immigrant family (Scholastic, 2013). At the age of six, Carle’s family moved back to Germany. He completed his early education at Stuttgart. He graduated from the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart. In the midst of World War II, when Carle was 15, he was enrolled by the German government to dig trenches on the Siegfried line. He does not talk about his time spent in the field, some attribute this to post-traumatic stress (Famous Authors, 2012). After his time in the field he studied at the prestigious Academy of Visual Arts. Carle has admitted that while he was in Germany he was homesick for America and often dreamed about coming home (E. Carle, 2013). In 1952, when Carle was twenty-three years old, with a portfolio and only forty dollars in his pocket, he arrived back in New York.
Professional Career
Soon after arriving in New York, Carle found a job as a graphic designer in the promotion department of The New York Times. Later, he became the art director at a New York based advertising company, where he stayed for several years. One day after seeing a picture of a red lobster that Carle had created for an advertisement campaign, Bill Martin Jr, a well-known and respected educator and author, contacted Carle and asked him to illustrate one of his stories (Scholastic, 2013). The story was Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Thus began Carle’s career as a children’s storybook author. His first story was 1,2,3 To The Zoo; then in 1969, Carle published possibly the most well-known classic children’s story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Scholastic, 2013). As an author and illustrator Carle has written sixty-eight children's books, including the beloved children’s book The Grouchy Ladybug.
Eric Carle was born in Syracuse, New York, on June 25, 1929 into a German immigrant family (Scholastic, 2013). At the age of six, Carle’s family moved back to Germany. He completed his early education at Stuttgart. He graduated from the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart. In the midst of World War II, when Carle was 15, he was enrolled by the German government to dig trenches on the Siegfried line. He does not talk about his time spent in the field, some attribute this to post-traumatic stress (Famous Authors, 2012). After his time in the field he studied at the prestigious Academy of Visual Arts. Carle has admitted that while he was in Germany he was homesick for America and often dreamed about coming home (E. Carle, 2013). In 1952, when Carle was twenty-three years old, with a portfolio and only forty dollars in his pocket, he arrived back in New York.
Professional Career
Soon after arriving in New York, Carle found a job as a graphic designer in the promotion department of The New York Times. Later, he became the art director at a New York based advertising company, where he stayed for several years. One day after seeing a picture of a red lobster that Carle had created for an advertisement campaign, Bill Martin Jr, a well-known and respected educator and author, contacted Carle and asked him to illustrate one of his stories (Scholastic, 2013). The story was Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Thus began Carle’s career as a children’s storybook author. His first story was 1,2,3 To The Zoo; then in 1969, Carle published possibly the most well-known classic children’s story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Scholastic, 2013). As an author and illustrator Carle has written sixty-eight children's books, including the beloved children’s book The Grouchy Ladybug.