STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
They spread their wings for the paparazzi and ate chocolate cake and pickles to their hearts’ content.
And then the youngsters punched holes in pictures depicting the foods they had tried as they celebrated the 50th anniversary of Eric Carle’s “The Hungry Caterpillar.”
“We pulled out all of Eric Carle’s books to read,” said Julie Teny as she watched her 2-uyear-old granddaughter Lottie Cook make a caterpillar. “We must’ve read ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ a dozen times today.”
Lee Dabney and the Children’s Library at The Community Library staged a birthday celebration for Carle, who turned 90 on Tuesday, and his children’s picture book about a caterpillar that ate and ate until he got a bellyache.
Anna Yuras and Anders Coulter presided over a large buffet of the things the caterpillar ate through, including cupcakes, cheese, salami, pickles, basil leaves, strawberries and chocolate cake.
And, when they weren’t eating, children and adults signed a large birthday card thanking Carle for a book that a few said had been their favorite childhood book.
“I like that children can memorize and read it at a very young age,” added Teny.