Eric Carle [author]

Calvin

Welcome to Headstones and Microphones where we use AI to step into the past through a researched, first-person simulation of history's most interesting people. I am your host, Calvin. While we’ve added some creative storytelling, our goal is to inspire your own study of these fascinating lives. Now, let’s meet our guest. Today we are joined by a true icon of childhood imagination. For those who may somehow not know who you are... who are you?

White Male Guest

Hi Calvin. I am Eric Carle, an author and illustrator, though I often think of myself simply as a person who loves colors, shapes, and sharing the wonders of nature with the very young.

Calvin

It is an honor, Eric! Your books are legendary. Let's start at the very beginning. When and where were you born?

White Male Guest

I was born on June 25, 1929, right in the middle of a warm summer in Syracuse, New York.

Calvin

A classic New York start! And what was your given name at birth?

White Male Guest

My given name was simply Eric Carle.

Calvin

Is there a story behind your birth name?

White Male Guest

Indeed! I was named after my father, Erich Carle. He was a wonderful man, though his name had that traditional German spelling with the "h" at the end. For my birth name, they went with the Americanized "Eric," which connected my heritage to my new home.

Calvin

That’s a lovely connection to your dad. What was your hometown like growing up?

White Male Guest

Oh, Syracuse in the early 1930s was a happy place for me, despite the Great Depression. It felt bright and full of life. My happiest memories are of the beautiful, green Finger Lakes region nearby, where we would go on weekends.

Calvin

Sounds like a beautiful place for a kid. What was your family life like?

White Male Guest

My parents, Erich and Johanna, were childhood sweethearts who had emigrated from Germany a few years before I was born. My father worked as a spray painter for the Easy Washer Company, and my mother worked as a maid for a wealthy family. We didn't have much money, but we had a lot of love, and we enjoyed camping, fishing, and boating together.

Calvin

It sounds incredibly close-knit. What kind of kid were you?

White Male Guest

I was a cheerful, curious little boy who was deeply in love with nature. I was a bit of a dreamer, always looking at the ground or up at the trees, fascinated by the tiny creatures crawling around.

Calvin

I can definitely see where the inspiration for your future books came from! What were your biggest fears growing up?

White Male Guest

When I was six years old, my grandmother implored my parents to move back to Germany. My mother was homesick, so we went. That transition was my biggest fear. Going from a sun-filled, welcoming American kindergarten to a strict, rigid German school environment was a massive shock. The unknown territory of that new school brought a lot of fear with it.

Calvin

That must have been incredibly tough to navigate at such a young age. What did you dream of becoming as a child?

White Male Guest

I actually fantasized quite a bit about becoming a chef! I loved the idea of mixing things together to create something delightful. But in my heart of hearts, after my kindergarten teacher Miss Frickey told my mother to encourage my art, I always knew I wanted to draw and create pictures.

Calvin

A chef of colors! I like that. What were some of your favorite activities in school?

White Male Guest

Art class was always my favorite, hands down! Especially later on during the difficult war years in Germany. My high school art teacher, Herr Krauss, secretly showed me a box of banned, "degenerate" art by masters like Picasso and Matisse. It was a thrilling, beautiful secret that changed my life. On the flip side, I absolutely detested gym class and sports. I skipped them whenever I could!

Calvin

Skipping gym to look at Picasso—now that is a true artist's origin story! What was your first job?

White Male Guest

My very first professional job after graduating from the art school in Stuttgart was working as a graphic designer in Germany, creating theater posters. But when I finally saved forty dollars and returned to my beloved America in 1952, my first big job was as a graphic designer in the promotion department of The New York Times.

Calvin

Landing at The New York Times with forty dollars in your pocket is incredible. Was there a moment where you realized you were different from everyone else?

White Male Guest

It was during those school years in Germany when I realized how much I despised the focus on winning, performing, and competing that everyone else seemed to care about. I didn't want to excel in sports or beat anyone; I just wanted to dream, look at bugs, and paint.

Calvin

What’s a decision that changed everything for you, but felt small at the time?

White Male Guest

In the mid-1960s, I designed a pharmaceutical advertisement featuring a bright, tissue-paper collage of a lobster. It felt like just another routine commercial project at the time, but that one little advertisement changed my whole destiny.

Calvin

That leads right into my next question: what was your biggest break?

White Male Guest

That lobster advertisement! A respected educator and author named Bill Martin Jr. saw that collage lobster and loved it. He called me out of the blue and asked if I would illustrate a book he wrote. That book turned out to be Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? It was my ultimate big break and the true start of my career in children's literature.

Calvin

Talk about a legendary collaboration! What were your biggest struggles before success?

White Male Guest

For many years, I was stuck in the commercial advertising world. I was an art director for a pharmaceutical agency, and while it paid the bills, it wasn't my true passion. I felt a disconnect between my commercial daily life and the pure, creative storytelling I wanted to do.

Calvin

Did you ever consider quitting the art world altogether?

White Male Guest

No, I never wanted to quit art, but I certainly wanted to quit the corporate advertising world! I stayed because I had a family to support, but my heart was always searching for a way out into something more meaningful.

Calvin

Were there any specific daily habits or routines that you feel are essential to your success?

White Male Guest

Later in life, because of my sedentary lifestyle and back trouble, I established a strict routine of doing thirty minutes of physical therapy exercises every single day. Two of the exercises were called the "angry cat" and the "old horse." Doing those daily movements not only helped my back, but the funny animal names actually gave me the breakthrough inspiration for my book, From Head to Toe!

Calvin

Wow, so physical therapy literally sparked a book concept! What job would you have had if fame never happened?

White Male Guest

I think I would have happily run a small bakery or become a chef. My Uncle Walter had a bakery when I was a boy, and I still remember the wonderful scent of fresh bread. I loved cooking pancakes for guests at my home, so a cozy little kitchen would have been my alternate haven.

Calvin

What was your life like before fame?

White Male Guest

It was a very busy, standard commercial life in New York City. I was working long hours, commuting, and navigating the fast-paced corporate ladder, all while dreaming of the open woods and nature of my childhood.

Calvin

How did relationships change after success?

White Male Guest

They became much more expansive! I suddenly found myself communicating with millions of children and teachers all over the globe through letters. It connected me to a massive, global family of young readers, which was deeply fulfilling.

Calvin

Did fame bring happiness?

White Male Guest

The fame itself wasn't what brought happiness—it was the creative freedom that came with it. Being able to wake up and spend my days painting tissue paper, cutting out shapes, and knowing I was helping children transition from the warmth of home to the unfamiliar world of school... that is what brought me true happiness.

Calvin

What was the downside of becoming famous?

White Male Guest

It can be a bit overwhelming to lose your privacy, and the business side of managing global success takes a lot of time away from the quiet studio work that I loved so much.

Calvin

What misconceptions did people have about you?

White Male Guest

People often thought that because I wrote books for very young children, my own life had always been simple, bright, and easy. They didn't realize the fragmented, difficult childhood I experienced during the war years in Germany.

Calvin

What was your darkest moment?

White Male Guest

The war years in Germany were incredibly dark. My father was conscripted into the army and became a prisoner in Russia for years, and we faced severe food shortages and constant air raids.

Calvin

What past regrets did you carry, that you spoke about?

White Male Guest

I often spoke about how much my parents deeply regretted the decision to move back to Germany in 1935. It uprooted our happy life in Syracuse right before the world tore itself apart.

Calvin

What’s something people misunderstood about your life?

White Male Guest

People sometimes misunderstood my late start. I didn't publish my first wholly original book, 1,2,3 to the Zoo, until I was nearly forty years old! People think success has to happen when you are very young, but my journey took time.

Calvin

Tell me about a time when everything went wrong and how did you handle it?

White Male Guest

Only five months after I finally made it back to America in 1952, I was drafted right back into the U.S. Army. I was devastated because I wanted to build my new life in New York. Because of my language skills, they stationed me right back in Germany as a mail clerk. I handled it by keeping my chin up, doing my duty, and focusing on the dream of returning to America the second my two years were up.

Calvin

Did fame and fortune change your life?

White Male Guest

It changed my surroundings, certainly! It allowed me to live in beautiful places like the Florida Keys and eventually found the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Massachusetts with my late wife, Bobbie. But it didn't change who I was at my core—I remained a guy who loved nature and bright colors.

Calvin

Who had the biggest influence on your life?

White Male Guest

My father. Those early walks through the woods with him in Syracuse, where he would lift up a rock and show me the beetles, mice, and caterpillars, planted the seeds for everything I ever created.

Calvin

What was life like in your final years?

White Male Guest

They were peaceful and creative. I spent my summers working in my studio in Northampton, Massachusetts, surrounded by art, family, and the beautiful nature that always sustained me.

Calvin

When and where and how did you pass away and how old were you?

White Male Guest

I passed away from kidney failure on May 23,2021, in Northampton, Massachusetts. I was 91 years old.

White Male Guest

What’s a random fact about you most people have never heard?

White Male Guest

Well, my most famous creation, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, didn't start out as a caterpillar at all! My original concept was about a bookworm named Willi, and the book was going to be called A Week with Willi the Worm. My editor, Ann Beneduce, suggested that a worm wasn't very cuddly and recommended a caterpillar instead. And the rest is history!

Calvin

A week with Willi the Worm just doesn't have the same ring to it! What’s the craziest rumor ever told about you?

White Male Guest

Oh, people used to think I used real, exotic papers from all over the world for my collages. The truth is much simpler! I just painted regular tissue paper with acrylic paints using old toothbrushes, sponges, and carpet scraps to get those textures.

Calvin

What was your most unique habit?

White Male Guest

I had a habit of keeping every single scrap of painted tissue paper I ever made. My studio was filled with flat drawers organized entirely by color—dozens of shades of blue, red, and green—just waiting for the right moment to be clipped out.

Calvin

What was your favorite food?

White Male Guest

Pancakes! Especially the ones made from simple ingredients, reminding me of the comforting meals my mother would scrape together.

Calvin

Did you have a favorite book?

White Male Guest

I always had a deep fondness for the classic fairy tales and stories that celebrated the small, quiet heroes of the world.

Calvin

Did you have any known rivalries?

White Male Guest

Oh, no rivalries! The children's book illustration community was wonderfully supportive. We all cheered each other on.

Calvin

Tell us a story nobody talks about.

White Male Guest

People rarely talk about the fact that during the war, when I was evacuated to the countryside, I actually worked for a short time digging trenches on the Siegfried Line. It was a strange, grueling experience for a boy who just wanted to hold a paintbrush.

Calvin

What’s your funniest behind-the-scenes moment?

White Male Guest

When I was photographed for my author photo for Walter the Baker, I dressed up in a full, tall chef's hat and chef's uniform, waving a kitchen whisk around like a magic wand. I looked like a lean, eccentric Santa Claus, and we couldn't stop laughing during the shoot.

Calvin

Did you ever prank someone?

White Male Guest

I wasn't much of a practical joker, but I loved to hide little visual surprises in my book illustrations for the children to discover on their own.

Calvin

What was the most outlandish purchase you made?

White Male Guest

I wasn't a man of outlandish purchases, but building a massive, beautiful museum entirely dedicated to picture book art in Amherst, Massachusetts, was certainly our grandest and most ambitious venture!

Calvin

What advice would you give people chasing success?

White Male Guest

Do not worry about a late start, and do not let fear of the unknown stop you. Children are naturally creative and eager to learn, and we adults should try to stay that way too. Find what moves your inside, match it with the outside world, and let yourself grow at your own pace.

Calvin

That is absolutely beautiful advice, Eric. Do you have any closing remarks about the interview or the stories you shared that you would like to share with our listeners before we sign off today?

White Male Guest

Just that I hope everyone takes a moment today to step outside, look closely at a leaf, or watch a tiny insect go about its day. There is so much wonder in the world if we just take the time to see it. Thank you so much for having me on the show, Calvin. It was a joyful chat!

Calvin

Thank you so much for stepping out of the past to join us, Eric. Today we got a wonderful peek into the life of Eric Carle, from his early childhood nature walks to the brilliant tissue-paper collages that shaped all of our childhoods. And that wraps up another conversation from beyond the grave. Thanks for joining us on The Headstones and Microphones Podcast. Remember—legends may die, but their stories never do. Please help spread the word by sharing and following the pod.