Eric Carle, the beloved children’s author and illustrator whose classics The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? gave millions of kids some of their earliest and most cherished reading memories. His books introduced universal themes in simple words and bright colors. Carle wrote and-or illustrated more than 75 books.

When Carle died in May 2021, an obituary in The Wall Street Journal recalled that he once said, “I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn. I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun.”

Carle credited his own father as the main source of encouraging his creativity. “When I was a small child,” he told a reporter in 1994, “as far back as I can remember, he would take me by the hand. And we would go out in nature. And he would show me worms and bugs and bees and ants and explain their lives to me. It was a very loving relationship.”

Possible Preaching Angles:

Carle’s quote shows the power of a loving father to teach his children, but it also shows how Jesus disciples us—he takes us by the hand, forming a loving relationship with us, and shows us what really matters.