Nearly six years ago, beloved and renowned author illustrator Eric Carle initiated a series titled, Eric Carle and Friends. In the first volume, What's Your Favorite Animal? (Henry Holt and Company, January 21, 2014) thirteen author illustrators, Nick Bruel, Lucy Cousins, Susan Jeffers, Steven Kellogg, Jon Klassen, Tom Lichtenheld, Peter McCarty, Chris Raschka, Peter Sis, Lane Smith, Erin Stead, Rosemary Wells and Mo Willems, were invited to talk about their favorite animal and supply readers with a visual portrayal. Each author illustrator is given two pages. Eric Carle begins this book and each subsequent title. Some of the author illustrators told a story about a favorite animal, wrote a poem, an ode, or a comedy. At the close of the book, pictures of the author illustrators as children with short biographical information are supplied. Here is the open book case.
Readers only had to wait a year for the next title, What's Your Favorite Bug? (Godwin Books, Henry Holt and Company, July 31, 2018) (Eric Carle and Friends) In this book, the author illustrators number fourteen (not including Eric Carle). They are: Joey Chou, Eric Fan, Denise Fleming, Ekua Holmes, Tim Hopgood, Molly Idle, Beth Krommes, Scott Magoon, Kenard Pak, Maggie Rudy, Britta Teckentrup, Brendan Wenzel, Teagan White and Eugene Yelchin. As in the two previous books all royalties go to The Eric Carle Museum Of Picture Book Art founded by Eric Carle and his wife Barbara Carle. In this book author illustrators feature the praying mantis, moths, the dragonfly, the katydid, the daddy longlegs, bees, ants, a ladybug, the firefly, peacock spiders, millipedes, the worker bee, the walking stick and the Rhino beetle. You'll have fun looking at all the childhood pictures and reading the short biographies at the end. Here is the book case.
For 2019's release, as soon as I read or think the last word, a tune from the musical Oliver! starts to play in my mind. Before I know it, I'm singing it out loud. What's Your Favorite Food? (Goodwin Books, Henry Holt and Company, July 23, 2019) (Eric Carle and Friends) highlights the talents of author illustrators, Aki, Isabelle Arsenault, Brigette Barrager, Matthew Cordell, Benji Davies, Karen Katz, Laurie Keller, Juliet Menendez, Greg Pizzoli, Misa Saburi, Felicita Sala, Dan Santat and Shannon Wright. You'll be heading to the grocery store and then the kitchen as soon as the first entry by Eric Carle is read. By the time you finish, you'll be ready for a fourteen-course meal. Here is the book case.
This collection of books, What's Your Favorite Animals?, What's Your Favorite Color?, What's Your Favorite Bug? and What's Your Favorite Food?, all part of the Eric Carle and Friends series, present readers with an array of talented author illustrators and their reasons for selecting their favorites. Their images and narratives are a distinct reflection of their work. You could use any one of these books to introduce units on animals, color, bugs or food. They would work well to inspire drawing and writing by children on any of those topics. They will also promote further research about those subjects chosen by the author illustrators or new ones the children pick as their favorite. I highly recommend all four titles in the series. I love them!
Attached to each of the titles is a link to the publisher's website where interior images are shown. There are links attached to each of the author illustrator names so their websites can be accessed. For those without websites, I attached links to sites with pertinent information about them.
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