Featuring the first book in the Illustrations Spotlight Collection:

Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me by Eric Carle

About the Illustrator: Eric Carle is one of my favorite illustrators: I love the textures of colors you can see in his broad paintbrush strokes. Each streak of his brush is a kaleidoscope of shades of color and pattern. His art is easily recognizable with his collage-style of layered, painted, paper-cutouts coming to gather to form colorful and cheerful illustrations.

Born in New York in 1929, Eric Carle moved to Germany when he was six years old. There, he grew up, and graduated from a prestigious art school, the Akademie der bildenden Künste, before returning to New York to become a graphic designer for The New York Time. His foray into children’s literature began with his collaboration with author Bill Martin Jr., on the famous book  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Since then, he has illustrated over 70 books, most of which he also wrote.

You may be familiar with his more well-known books: The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Grouchy Ladybug. 

In this featured book, Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, the moon takes center stage.

Book Synopsis: Monica, the daughter, looks longingly out her window at the glowing moon in the night sky, and wishes that she could play with the moon. Her father, wanting happiness for his daughter, climbs his ladder up to the full moon to implore her to come down and play. The full moon tells him to wait until she is smaller, a mere sliver, and then she will be small enough to play with his daughter. And thus begins the progression of the full moon into its crescent form.

What’s exciting about Eric Carle’s illustrations is that he often includes an added dimension to his pictures, making his books interactive and giving them a toy-like, playful quality. For example, in this book, fold out flaps help exaggerate story elements and increase children’s understanding and engagement with the story.

One fun flap is the horizontal ladder flap- emphasizing for the reader how long Papa’s ladder needed to be in order to reach the moon.

There are also flaps folding up, emphasizing length as well as helping the child imagine the great heights of climbing up into the sky.

My favorite illustration element is the giant, full-moon fold out. The page folds out like a blossoming accordion flower, the folds peeling out from the middle to reveal the gorgeous glowing moon at the center. The large portrayal exaggerates the grandness and massive size of a full moon, a moon too large for a young girl to play with.

Eric Carle’s comprehensive knowledge and love for nature shine through in his illustrations and books.  His books often offer the reader an opportunity to learn something new about nature and how the world around them works. In this book, children learn about the phases of the moon .  

Eric Carle picks up on children’s inquisitiveness and strokes their curiosity through his entertaining and beautiful books. From the words of Eric Carle himself:  “I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn. I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun.”

And I believe he has been quite successful in doing so! For a copy of this beautiful book: Check your local bookstore or ask your local librarian to help you find a copy. Also, please comment and share on your own delve into Eric Carle’s magical realms of learning, color, and fun!

*~Until next time, Happy Reading~*