the very hungry caterpillar

I wouldn't normally take it upon myself to blog about Google, but when I noticed this morning that they had treated their name to a The Very Hungry Caterpillar illustration to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the book by Eric Carle, I couldn't resist.

I'm kind of surprised (although I know I shouldn't be, this is the way of the world now) by the mass-marketing behind this book. The caterpillar no longer lives just in book form, but seems to have morphed into everything from greeting cards to dishware to plush toys. And I guess - yeah - also as a Google nameplate.

A few years ago, I purchased a The Very Hungry Caterpillar stamp, complete with a little die-cut hole. I was thrilled. I remember being pleasantly surprised to see the book as a stamp, because - although I had loved it as a kid, and remember it very fondly - it hadn't occurred to me that it was popular the world-over. I've since come to realize that many of my favorite books, Goodnight Moon amongst them, are vastly popular and marketed all over the place. I guess that's how I feel about most of the things that I experienced as a kid, that they were secrets whispered just to me.

I don't know if all of the marketing behind TVHC really has a point, but I imagine that if all of these other things had been around when I was a kid, I probably would have loved all of the stuff, too. But for me, the true beauty is still in the book and in the beautiful and simple illustrations contained within.

I think a good imagination can do the rest.