Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Award-winning team by Bill Martin (author) and Eric Carle (illustrator)

Bill Martin Jr truly was “America’s favorite children’s author.” He wrote more than 300 books for children over almost 60 years, including the classic text Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do you See?, illustrated by his dear friend Eric Carle.

Bill Martin lived the last 11 years of his life in the east Texas woods near Commerce, Texas. A Kansas native, Bill graduated with a teaching certificate from Emporia State University. He taught in Kansas and was an elementary school principal in Chicago before he moved to New York City in 1961 to work for Holt, Rinehart and Winston, where he developed the literature-based reading programs Sounds of Language and The Instant Readers. Seven years later, Bill left Holt and launched his career as a writer of children’s book and as a consultant to teachers. He lived in New York until 1993, when he moved to Texas.

Through the years he gave children some of their favorite books, including Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear? (also illustrated by Eric Carle), The Ghost-Eye Tree, Barn Dance, Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom and many more.

Eric Carle was born of German parents. He was always drawn to America after his family moved to Stuttgart when he was six. Carle’s childhood years in Germany were traumatic; as an adult he would make “books for the child in me, books I had longed for.” It is no surprise that his style is characterised by an explosive use of colour. During the war, his art teacher showed him his hidden collection of banned “degenerate” art, including works by Picasso, Klee and Matisse. At 16, Carle began studying graphic art at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Stuttgart. Returning to New York in 1952, Carle built a successful career in advertising. In the mid 1960s, Carle decided to give up this career to become an illustrator and graphic designer. His first published work appeared in a cookery book. Soon afterwards, children’s book author Bill Martin asked him to illustrate the manuscript of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? The resulting book was an instant hit. Encouraged by this success, Carle began submitting ideas for his own books. One of these was “Willie The Worm”. His editor suggested that a caterpillar might prove a more endearing character – the rest is history.

First published in 1969, The Very Hungry Caterpillar has sold over 29 million copies in more than 47 languages. Eric Carle has illustrated more than seventy books, and more than 88 million copies of his books have sold around the world.