I Can Do It

I was hard on Eric Carle, in a post from several months ago. I said that the reason for his enormous popularity, in the realm of books for very young children, escapes me. I said that because I considered most of his books to be extremely dull, including that hugely popular one, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Now I do see what the fuss is all about: his books appeal to a child's need for rhythm, bright colors, and unusual sounds and activities. Three of my son's favorite books are by Carle: What's For Lunch?, in which a cardboard monkey swings on an actual string throughout the book; The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which has plenty of small holes for little fingers to poke at; and From Head to Toe, which has pictures of animals engaging in various activities, like a gorilla beating his chest. The first time my son saw me acting out the part of the gorilla, a smile of delight overtook him, as if he couldn't get over this crazy thing his mom was doing; of course, I've acted out that part joyfully and vigorously ever since, just to spark the same reaction in him; and he's started to slap his hands against his own chest in imitation. My husband has commented on the dubious utility of teaching my son to act like a gorilla. This is true; but look how far it's gotten me in the last several months...at any rate, the words repeated over and over in the book, "I can do it, I can do it!" present perhaps the most positive message of any of the books my son has, and he seems to respond more joyfully to this book than to any other book in his collection.

So I extend my apology to Mr. Carle. He has performed a noble service to this generation, and one or two previous generations of children. I wish there were several dozen more authors like him, people skilled at writing books for babies and toddlers. Instead, I know of only a handful.