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Eric Carle (born June 25, 1929) is an American designer, illustrator, and writer of children's books. He is most famous for ''The Very Hungry Caterpillar'', a picture book with few words that has been translated into more than 62 languages and sold more than 41 million copies. Since it was published in 1969 he has illustrated more than 70 books, most of which he also wrote, and more than 132 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.〔data supplied by the business office of Eric Carle Studio, Oct 2013〕 He won the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his career contribution to American children's literature in 2003.〔〔 For his contribution as a children's illustrator Carle was U.S. nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010.〔 ==Early life== Eric Carle was born in 1929 to Erich and Johanna Carle in Syracuse, New York. When he was six years old, his mother, homesick for Germany, led the family back to Stuttgart. He was educated there and graduated from the local art school (ABK-Stuttgart in German Wikipedia). Eric's father was drafted into the German army at the beginning of World War II (1939) and taken prisoner by the Soviet forces when Germany capitulated early in 1945 (the end of the war). He returned home late in 1947 weighing 85 pounds. "When he came back, he was a broken man," Carle told ''The Guardian'' years later. He was a "sick man, psychologically, physically devastated." Eric had been sent to the small town of Schwenningen to escape the bombings of Stuttgart. When he was 15 the German government conscripted boys of that age to dig trenches on the Siegfried line. He doesn't care to think about it deeply and says his wife thinks he suffers from post-traumatic stress. "You know about the Siegfried line? To dig trenches. And the first day three people were killed a few feet away. None of us children -- Russian prisoners and other conscripted workers. The nurses came and started crying. And in Stuttgart, our home town, our house was the only one standing. When I say standing, I mean the roof and windows are gone, and the doors. And, well, there you are."〔 Always homesick for America, Eric dreamed of returning one day and moved to New York City in 1952 with only $40. There he landed a job as graphic designer in the promotion department of ''The New York Times''. He was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War and stationed in Germany〔 with the Second Armored Division as a mail clerk.〔 After discharge he returned to his old job with ''The New York Times''. Later he became the art director of an advertising agency. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eric Carle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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