was the first of four books in a series that launched and confirmed the very creative illustrator’s career. Ahead of the production’s presentation in December, bringing along a great bunch of cute, big puppets, we adventured ourselves a bit deeper into Carle’s colourful world. Let’s get to know into more detail the fascinating stories that inspired the show.

The little caterpillar was Eric Carle’s breakthrough to children all over the world. With simple, colourful drawings, he unveiled the cycle of a funny and friendly insect of many legs until it turned into a beautiful butterfly. This cleverly illustrated adventure paved the way for many other stories with animals, taking young boys and girls to discover the excitement of learning new stuff like counting numbers or naming the days of the week. Enticing and immersive, Carle’s drawings have entertained generations for more than 50 years, and they still do. The following are four examples of how he kept enchanting new little readers after his caterpillar munched its way through our present time, introducing many new friends. And we may soon be sitting very close to them when they step on our stage!

Published for the first time in 1967, Brown Bear Brown Bear What do You See?, is an animal parade of many shades. By repetitively asking what each animal is seeing, the book is a perfect aloud reading for preschool kids, a delightful combination of Carle’s bright collages and drawings with singsong texts by Bill Martin. Being introduced to a group of endearing characters, flicking through the pages, children quickly recognize a big happy frog, a plump purple cat and a handsome blue horse. The book has been reissued many times so Carle and Martin would create new text and illustrations, mostly to the last page to add different endings.

One day, back in 1995, a stormy wind has thrown thousands of rubber toys off a container into the sea. This true event, that had then feed the news, inspired Eric Carle to imagine 10 Little Rubber Ducks, a book designed for small kids to learn about numbers as they travel through numerous sights on the vast blue ocean. Drifting in various directions, the yellow duckies run into all kinds of marine animals, from a friendly seal and a chatty pelican to a majestic whale and a beautiful dolphin. Eventually, the 10th  yellow rubber toy swims into a bunch of wild ducks to end this tale on a happy note. At least one of the tiny sea-drifters has finally found a family!

Dimming the background to create wonderful colour contrasts, The Very Lonely Firefly is a heart-warming story, depicting the tireless journey of a cute, shinny creature and his solitary search for belonging and friendship. Flying the dark night away, looking to find other fireflies, our tiny glowing hero bumps into a lantern, a candle and the shiny eyes of a dog, a cat and an owl. Before finding what he’s looking for, the lonely insect will even be surprised by a series of colourful fireworks! Published for the first time in 1995, besides its vibrant collage art, the book has lightened up plenty of little faces thanks to the inclusion of a set of battery-operated twinkling lights. A multisensory experience that literally illuminates the path for first-time readers!

In the summer of 1969, just before his 40th birthday, Eric Carle got his iconic children’s book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, finally published. Has the illustrator had once revealed, it all started one day when he was “innocently playing with a hole-puncher, making holes into a stack of paper”. From there he quickly got to the sunny Sunday, when the caterpillar was hatched out of a tiny egg. He was very hungry. On Monday he ate through one apple; on Tuesday, he ate through two pears, and was still hungry. When full at last, he made a cocoon around himself and went to sleep, to wake up a few weeks later wonderfully transformed into a butterfly! So the story went…

Jumping off a large collection of illustrated books, Eric Carle’s famous drawings left the shelves to be adapted to various other media. From a TV version created in the UK to educational videos introducing young kids to the simple joys of basic communication, there are plenty of options. After a few hick-ups, this amazing world of characters will finally materialize on CCM’s stage too, in a Shanghainese production that will enchant entire families. The Very Hungry Caterpillar and its numerous friends will certainly keep making new fans, carrying Eric Carle’s heritage into an expanding collective imaginary, for at least another half century to come.