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The Very Hungry Caterpillar turned 45 this month.  So many children across generations have loved and enjoyed this book and will do for many years to come.  So what makes a classic children’s book?

I thought back to my earliest memories of learning to read and my favourite books.  They were The One, Two Three and Away books which were used as the reading program for my school.  My mum would sit with me at the kitchen table with an Old Virginia tobacco tin filled with laminated paper words (schools in the 80’s!).  It was here I learnt to read and I devoured every book that was given to me by my teacher.

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It didn’t exactly get me many friends on the playground, but these guys became my friends as I shared their adventures and I remember feeling a real sense of achievement when I reached the more advanced early reading books like the White Owls and The Cottage in the Woods, which looking back were quite dark books for a young kid to read!

Happy Birthday to The Very Hungry Caterpillar!  May books like this and Roger Red Hat inspire young children to read for many many years to come.