The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art was two hours away in Amherst. It is worth the drive time and more. We spent the entire day just wandering around. It was a fun trip for the kids and me to take on Saturday afternoon.
The museum itself is tucked into the rolling farmland of the Pioneer Valley between Amherst and North Hampton. Drive past cow barns and cornfields in a landscape not often seen in Eastern MA. It’s good to see {and smell} animals and agriculture – to remind you it’s not all cities and finance.
Photo by Paul Shoul © The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.
If you’re looking for something to do first: Visit the art room first, where you can create a ‘project of the day’. Kids were either engaged in art or {deciding not to create that day} playing with toys in the spacious light-filled room. Finished work was displayed and drying, ready to be admired and then taken home by the mini artists.
What is the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art?
According to their website:
The mission of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, a non-profit organization in Amherst, Massachusetts, is to inspire a love of art and reading through picture books. The only full-scale museum of its kind in the United States, The Carle collects, preserves, presents, and celebrates picture books and picture book illustrations from around the world. In addition to underscoring the cultural, historical, and artistic significance of picture books and their art form, The Carle offers educational programs that provide a foundation for arts integration and literacy.
The Carle houses more than 11,000 objects, including 7,300 permanent collection illustrations, three art galleries, an art studio, a theater, picture book and scholarly libraries, and educational programs for families, scholars, educators, and schoolchildren. Educational offerings include professional training for educators around the country and four onsite graduate programs in Children’s Literature in collaboration with Simmons College.
Eric Carle founded his museum, along with his wife, Barbara, in 2002. With a mission to inspire a love of art and reading through picture books, the museum professionals there collect, preserve, present, and celebrate picture books and picture book illustrations.
OUR TRIP TO THE ERIC CARLE MUSEUM OF PICTURE BOOK ART
Space is bright and inviting and smells like BOOKS! I was sold the second we walked in. The galleries were interesting, but the library and the art studio were unique. Brought my toddler and 4th grader, and actually, the place was more suited to the older kid who devours books and could handle the painting activity in the art studio without getting too messy. We found some new gems in the library, peruse the galleries, did a scavenger hunt, and spent way too much in the gift shop. If we were local, we’d definitely visit frequently. Would recommend visiting the art studio first so if there’s painting your artwork will have time to dry.
Overall, space is thoughtfully curated for people of all ages!
The mission of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, a non-profit organization in Amherst, MA, is to inspire a love of art and reading through picture books.
WORKS OF ERIC CARLE (most of them)
1965, Aesop’s Fables for Modern Readers (Peter Pauper Press) (illustrator)
1965, Nature Thoughts: A Selection (Peter Pauper Press) (illustrator)
1966, On Friendship: A Selection (Peter Pauper Press) (illustrator)
1967, Flower Thoughts: A Selection (Peter Pauper Press) (illustrator)
1967, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (illustrator)
1968, 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo
1969, The Very Hungry Caterpillar
1970, Pancakes, Pancakes!
1970, The Tiny Seed
1970, Tales of the Nincompoop (illustrator)
1970, The Boastful Fisherman (illustrator)
1971, Feathered Ones and Furry (illustrator)
1971, The Scarecrow Clock (illustrator)
1971, Do You Want to Be My Friend?
1972, Rooster’s Off to See the World
1972, The Very Long Tail
1972, The Secret Birthday Message
1972, Walter the Baker
1973, Do Bears Have Mothers Too? (illustrator)
1973, Have You Seen My Cat?
1973, I See a Song, 1973
1986, All in a Day (Mitsumasa Anno editor)
1987, A House for Hermit Crab
1988, The Lamb and the Butterfly (illustrator)
1988, Eric Carle’s Treasury of Classic Stories for Children
1989, Animals Animals (illustrator)
1990, The Very Quiet Cricket
1991, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? (illustrator)
1991, Dragons Dragons (illustrator)
1992, Draw Me a Star
1993, Today Is Monday
1994, My Apron
1995, The Very Lonely Firefly
1996, Little Cloud
1997, From Head to Toe
1997, Flora and Tiger: 19 very short stories from my life
1998, Hello, Red Fox
1998, You Can Make a Collage: A Very Simple How-to Book
1999, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle
2000, Does A Kangaroo Have A Mother, Too?
2000, Dream Snow
2002, “Slowly, Slowly, Slowly,” said the Sloth
2003, Where Are You Going? To See My Friend! (with Kazuo Iwamura)
2003, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? (illustrator)
2004, Mister Seahorse
2011, The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse
2013, Friends
2014, What’s Your Favorite Animal?
2015, The Nonsense Show
What are your favorite Eric Carle books? Let us know in the comments!
Water, melanin, bones, blood. In route to death, while I’m here, might as well get shit accomplished.
Photographer, fitness enthusiast, blogger, and mother of two.
