‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ author Eric Carle dies at 91

“I remember that as a child, I always felt I would never grow up and be big and articulate and intelligent,” Carle told The New York Times in 1994. ”`Caterpillar’ is a book of hope: you, too, can grow up and grow wings.”

Politicians like George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton were known to read the book to children on the campaign trail. The American Academy of Pediatrics sent more than 17,000 pediatricians special copies of the book, along with growth charts and parent handouts on healthy eating. Fellow writer and illustrator Ted Dewan called the book one of the pillars of children’s culture. “It’s almost talking about how great the Beatles were. It’s beyond reproach,” he said.

Carle wrote and-or illustrated more than 75 books, sometimes partnering with Bill Martin Jr. or other authors, but most with Carle working alone. One of his last books was 2015′s “The Nonsense Show,” which centered on a parade of flying fish, cat-taming mice and circus animals.

Born to German immigrant parents in Syracuse, New York, Carle and his family returned to Germany — Nazi Germany, at the time —- when he was 6. Under the Nazis, modern, expressionistic and abstract art was banned and only realistic and naturalistic art was permitted.

When Carle was 12 or 13, a high school art teacher would change his life by inviting him to his home, where he secretly showed his expressionist art, including Franz Marc’s “Blue Horse.”