The Very Hungry Baby

A perfect pairing for 9- to 15-month-olds: The Very Hungry Caterpillar's Favorite Words (2007) and The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1994) 5 by 7 inch board edition. Both are written, designed, and illustrated by Eric Carle.

The first is a small fistful of words, a 2 1/4 by 2 1/4 by 2 1/4 inch cube book. Ten words fill 20 THICK board pages. Pictures and verse are pulled from Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar: The small chunky serves as an appetizer for the famous main.

The plot of The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a bit beyond a 9-month-old's cognitive grasp, but the book as a w(hole) is not. Round cut-outs cue poking. A poke leads to a point. A point leads to a label. Labels lead to word learning. Apples, pears, plums. ICE CREAM! Center page widths vary, facilitating independent page turning.

Read and reread Favorite Words before sharing the longer story. Your baby will build a picture and word bank to draw on, making the second book more digestible and more fun.

Watch Eric Carle read the hardover edition here.

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