Ten Little Caterpillars

by Bill Martin Jr.

Illustrations and rhyming text follow ten caterpillars as one wriggles up a flower stem, another sails across a garden pool, and one reaches an apple leaf, where something amazing happens.

Genres: Picture Books, Counting, Childrens, Nature, Storytime, Animals, Mathematics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Bill Martin, Jr. (1916-2004) was an elementary-school principal, teacher, writer, and poet. His more than 300 books, among them the bestselling classics Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See ; Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear ; Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See ; and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom , are a testament to his ability to speak directly to children. Martin held a doctoral degree in early childhood education. Born in Kansas, he worked as an elementary-school principal in Chicago before moving to New York City, where he worked in publishing, developing innovative reading programs for schools. After several years, he devoted himself full-time to writing his children's books. He lived in New York until 1993, when he moved to Texas. He lived in the east Texas woods, near the town of Commerce, until he passed away in 2004.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/billma...

Reviews

[IvyInThePages · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 5 leaves out of 5
Characters: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Story: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Genre: Children
Type: Book
Worth?: Yeah

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute. I love that it has little labels for each element of the illustrations.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is fabulous. I think Ten Little Caterpillars is good. The illustrations are beautiful. 3 stars for the text - there's nothing wrong with it and I would happily read it to a child, but it seemed a little blah and didn't stick with me at all. But it gets an extra star for the depiction of different kinds of caterpillars and the butterflies they turn into - I loved the last spread showing the caterpillar-butterfly pairs with information about which plants (pictured in the story, of course!) each one eats. So it's a perfectly good picture book that should belong in public libraries and in homes; it just won't stick with me as one of my personal favorites.

(Note: I received a free advance reading copy of this book from the publisher at an American Library Association Annual Conference. I was not required to write a positive review. Thank you, Simon and Schuster!)

[Orion Kopf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations and nice rhymes. Slightly dark as it seems to hint that 9 out of 10 caterpillars are now dead.

[Kathy Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A standalone picture book for ages 2–6 that involves counting and natural history about caterpillars and flowers.

In 2012, Ten Little Caterpillars won the Wisconsin Library Association Outstanding Book Award.

My Take
The pages are simple with one line per spread with the succeeding line rhyming with the first, using an A-B rhyming scheme. It makes me understand why Martin used bower in one of the lines.

Very cool. Martin provides the names of flowers and critters as you read, and then includes a glossary about the caterpillars, what they eat, and the type of butterfly or moth they turn into. Very useful in a discussion with the kids about nature.

That said, Ten Little Caterpillars is rather gruesome, if realistic, in Martin sending each caterpillar on its way into safety or danger with that last page spread an evolution.

Ehlert's graphics are a fabulously colorful mix of awkward and realistic lines and is consistent with this in its compositions. Some of the watercolors look as if Ehlert painted the paper and then cut it up for its shapes — check out that cabbage, the toad AND the chicken! Some look as if the shapes were simply put loosely on top of another piece of paper while that muskmelon looks as if it were pieced like a quilt.

I'm tellin' ya, you could have so much fun trying to replicate Ehlert's techniques! A great opportunity for art with your kids. Color images directly on paper or let the really young ones color the paper and the older ones cut them into shapes to create flowers and bugs and butterflies...fun!

The Story
Ten little caterpillars are out and about in our big, wide world, discovering the joys and dangers. Come see what can happen!

The Characters
A mourning cloak, buckeye, cabbage looper, yellow bear, yellow-necked, monarch, painted lady, woolly bear, common wood nymph, and tiger swallowtail caterpillars.

The Cover and Title
The cover is fun with its white background providing great contrast for the huge "tie-dyed", heart-shaped leaf being nibbled into by caterpillars that look more like colorful graphic geometrics created by children. There's a deep orange info blurb at the very top while the large title is immediately below it in black. The author's and illustrator's name are below that, also in black.

The title is an "adventure" tale in the trials and tribulations of Ten Little Caterpillars.

[Villain E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not just random rhymes, but factual portrayals of different breeds of caterpillars and eventually butterflies. A beautiful ode to Eric Carle. But not a great counting book as there's one caterpillar per page and no numerals.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by Lois Ehlert, is another winning collaboration, focusing on caterpillars, counting, and nature.

In this caterpillar counting book, we meet the ten caterpillars. Told in rhyme, the caterpillars are shown in various habitats. On the final pages the caterpillars are shown, with information on what they eat, with a picture of each as a butterfly.

The simple rhyming text introduces each caterpillar from first to tenth.
Labels in small print name the other objects in each scene.

Ehlert's illustrations, rendered in watercolor collage, are child friendly, introducing each nature scene clearly. The size of the bright, appealing illustrations and excellent design of the book will make this a strong stoyrtime choice. The great cover illustration and interesting double page spreads should help attract readers. Some of my favorite images include the second caterpillar among the flowers, the third caterpillar on the cabbage, the sixth caterpillar off to school, the doomed seventh caterpillar on the thistle, and ninth caterpillar about to meet a sea bass.

Ten Little Caterpillars is a nice introduction into nature for young readers and listeners. I love the labeling and new vocabulary provided for young readers and listeners. It's fun introductory science for kids. There are possibilities to expand the story with art, science and math. I highly recommend this for school and public library collections.

For ages 3 to 8, butterflies, animals, counting, insects, gardens, science, vocabulary, art, and fans of Bill Martin Jr. and Lois Ehlert.

[Ardea Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title / Author / Publication Date: Ten Little Caterpillars/Bill Martin Jr./2011

Genre: Fiction, Rhyming Story, Picture Book

Format: Hardcover

Plot summary: Illustrations and rhyming text follow ten caterpillars as one wriggles up a flower stem, another sails across a garden pool, and one reaches an apple leaf, where something amazing happens.

Considerations or precautions for readers advisory: A great book to teach children about different caterpillar species.

Review citation: Walkins, L. L. (2011). Ten Little Caterpillars. School Library Journal, 57(8), 91.

Section source used to find the material: Children's Core Collection, Most Highly Recommended

Recommended age: 4 and up

[Colby Sharp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids will love this book. Who doesn't love a good book about caterpillars? I am a big fan of books that told in story form, but have lots of nonfiction laced in. On each page of this book you have a caterpillar in a beautiful setting. On each page lots of things have labels telling the kids what they are: other insects, fruit, plants. The end of the book is my favorite. The caterpillars are shown as caterpillars, underneath it says what they eat, and underneath that is a picture of what that particular caterpillar will look like as a butterfly. SUPER COOL!

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

My kids love finding and counting the caterpillars. Plus, they enjoy looking at them all at the end of the book where they show both the caterpillar and then the butterfly it becomes. Very informative!

[Sunah Chung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten little caterpillars were introduced with watercolor collage illustrations.
I considered this book as a narrative nonfiction because the text was in narrative form and the contents were based on scientific facts and examples that could be observed in nature. The contents were simple: describing ten different caterpillars and portraying their images. Some caterpillars would become butterflies and others would become moths after metamorphosis. The exquisite collage increases the artistic quality of the book. However, when it comes to the image and language configuration, some of the captions may cause misinterpretations because of the locational relations between the target image parts and the texts.

[Autumn King · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very nice picture book. It helps counting, in this case all the way up to 10. You count each caterpillar on their journeys. Some caterpillars climb flowers, some climb vegetables, some even get carried away inside a jar. I loved the illustrations of all the things surrounding the caterpillars. Each item was labeled, like the insets, vegetables, fruits. That was helpful to to teach children about those things as well. It was very colorful. One part shows a leaf that had a few holes in it, indicating the caterpillar had eaten those. That part kind of reminded me The Very Hungry Caterpillar. At the end, you see a caterpillar climbing up and you see a bird waiting for it. Just when you thought it was doomed you get to see a caterpillar changing into a beautiful butterfly.

[FM Family · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first time I heard this was through a not great read aloud so I think it tainted me, otherwise it might have been a 4. It’s a good book for introducing kids to butterflies and moths in an accessible way and has the detail on the endpages so you can decide how much of it to get into which I always appreciate. But honestly, it felt a bit dry, again not sure if that was just the way I first heard it read aloud. My three year old seemed ok with it but never requested it though that could have been due to my lack of enthusiasm. All in all felt like a book that was more fun than school, so great for a lesson, but less fun than reading, so not ideal as a read aloud.

[Meghan Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations are so bright and vivid the pop out whenever you turn the page! This was an easy counting story explaining what "10 Little Caterpillars" were up too. I appreciated that inside the illustrations were little captions of each object. For example, there was a picture of a cardinal and below the picture, there was a small caption stating "Cardinal." That helps a child reading the book themselves and also provides a teaching tool for parents and educators that are reading this story out loud.

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten caterpillars are shown on the cover. The first page of the story begins with the first caterpillar crawling into a flower garden. It goes on from there; some caterpillars getting eaten by critters, some are safe eating melons and leaves. the tenth caterpillar is able to climb an apple tree and hang on, becoming a chrysalis and then emerging as a butterfly. Each caterpillar is represented in the back of the book along with its corresponding butterfly or moth.

Another beautiful winner from the Martin/Ehlert collaboration team!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm addicted to interesting illustrations. This book is not overtly instructive of plants and butterflies but certainly does educate. The ten little caterpillars are found in various places as you read the narrative. Alongside the plants in each illustration are very small letters that identify the plant and other creatures pictured on each page. At the end of the book is information identifying each kind of caterpillar and it's adult stage as well as what it eats. A great nature starter book for little children.

[Ad Astra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute book. Good for counting as well as identifying real caterpillar and butterfly species and the plants that nurture them. A lot of good effort, but it feels a little disjointed since cognitive abilities for kids who are learning numbers probably aren't going to be able to appreciate or express the differences between a Virginian Tiger Moth and a Monarch quite so soon. I mean maybe. As an amateur bug lover, I appreciated it.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite from either Martin or Ehlert, but still a great one. I loved the little labeled details naming the flowers, etc. and the kids in my storytime had fun looking at the last few pages, where you could see the different butterflies and moths that came from the different caterpillars in the book. A good counting book with a bit of a science lesson snuck in there too - definitely one to pull out again.

[Michelle Gallegos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative picture book, young readers can use to learn about different types of caterpillars and what they can transform into. This book is also great for counting, number 1-10 are used to keep track of the caterpillars. This is a very simple, straight forward book in which the illustrations add to what is being told. Readers, especially young reader, will enjoy looking at the colorful illustrations. This picture book could be used in either a science lesson math lesson.

[Kristin Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the realistic cut-paper illustrations done in Lois Ehlert's signature style, and the fact that Ehlert added other living things, like cabbage and a toad and a sea bass, on the pages. The bright colors and large print make this a perfect readaloud. Don't miss the last few pages containing a few more details about each caterpillar, including its name.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to a group of two-year olds and their caregivers. It was not a huge hit, although they sat and listened. The illustrations are beautiful, and it was a good introduction to caterpillars and the fact that they turn into butterflies. Although this seems like a book for young children, it uses vocabulary ("bower") that is unfamiliar to many people.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one of my favorite read alouds because it has simple counting, rhyming text, brilliantly colored illustrations by Lois Ehlert, and expanded knowledge on plants, caterpillars, butterflies, and moths. Because of the range of information, this books works well with preschoolers, early readers, and more advanced elementary readers. Highly recommended for both school and public libraries.

[Tweller83 · Rating 3 out of 5]

4/23/22: This one is a decent read and the illustrations show exactly what the caterpillar actually eats with small little labels under each. In the back are the caterpillars, what they eat and then what type of moth or butterfly they turn into. I wanted to like this better than I did, we'll have to see what the grandchild thinks when we start reading picture books together.

[AJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

4/23/22: This one is a decent read and the illustrations show exactly what the caterpillar actually eats with small little labels under each. In the back are the caterpillars, what they eat and then what type of moth or butterfly they turn into. I wanted to like this better than I did, we'll have to see what the grandchild thinks when we start reading picture books together.

[Christie Kaaland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for learning counting and numbers, 1 to 10, but a colorful concept book just the same. Each page describes the actions of one caterpillar. The addition of the number itself on the page along with the "th" of each number would give children a visual of the number. Also, there's only one caterpillar per page, so there's not an 'adding up' or a 'counting the caterpillars' opportunity.

[Alissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is super informational! Throughout the book it talks about what each caterpillar does. It also has a little note beside each picture telling us what everything that is pictured is. At the end of the book it tells us all the kinds of caterpillars and butterflies named throughout the book and what they do and eat!

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

A counting book with caterpillars. If you little one enjoys butterflies, bug, or counting this worth checking out. Also great for a butterfly life cycle lesson with young children. Pair with The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative story of ten types of different caterpillars and the environment they dwell, and how they survive and turn into Butterflies, and Moths. Several species of plants, and trees are identified in the book also.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten Little Caterpillars. Ten different paths. Some good. Some not so good. And of course a butterfly appearance. Lively way to learn about different plants and insects. Bright bold pictures will be a hit with the kids. A good short, story. Perfect for that "one more story please" plea.

[Sidney McQuade · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rhyming and colorful book about catarpillars. Each one is doing something different. One makes it to an apple leaf where it starts the transformation into a butterfly. I loved reading this book as a kid, and enjoyed reading it again now.