Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin Jr.

Ten Little Caterpillars Reviews

• 
  IvyInThePages

  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 (In Libris Veritas)

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

  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

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

  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

  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.
• 
  Colby Sharp

  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

  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!
• 
  Autumn King

  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

  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.
• 
  Melanie H.

  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!
• 
  Ad Astra

  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.
• 
  Sarah

  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

  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

  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.
• 
  Anthony

  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

  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.
• 
  Kristy Teague

  This colorful picture book could be used to support science or art in the classroom. The large detailed illustrations show the differences between various caterpillars, moths, and butterflies. Younger students could trace the pictures and color them.
• 
  Caroline

  From the same duo that created "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" comes a delightful and educational tale of ten little caterpillars.
  
  Not only do you learn the caterpillar names, but in the end, you see what they all turn into!