Eric Carle (1929-2021) was one of America's leading children's book illustrators and authors. Author of more than seventy books, his picture book career started when Bill Martin Jr invited him to create the illustrations for Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? That book went on to sell millions of copies worldwide and Eric soon began writing and illustrating his own books, eventually creating the bestselling classic The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Born in the United States, Eric also spent many of his early years in Germany where he studied typography and graphic art at the Academy of Applied Art in Stuttgart.

Carle was the recipient of many honors including the American Library Association's Children's Literature Legacy Award and the Original Art Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators. In addition to writing and illustrating books of his own, he also collaborated on several others, including Bill Martin Jr's Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, Isaac Bashevis Singer's Why Noah Chose the Dove, and the Eric Carle and Friends' What's Your Favorite picture book series. The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, which Carle and his wife Bobbie founded, opened in Amherst, Massachusetts in 2002.