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Eric Carle is a magnificent author known for his very unique and brilliant illustrations and children's picture books. He has a wife Barbara Carle, and two grown-up children, a son and a daughter. He was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1929 and moved to Germany when he was just 6 years old. He graduated from a very prestigious art school in Germany, Akademie der bildenden Kunste. He had always dreamed of going back to America and in 1952 he packed up his bags with only forty dollars in his pocket, portfolio in hand, and headed back to his home in New York. Within no time, he received a job as a graphic designer for The New York Times. He was later offered a job, that he accepted, as an art director for an advertising agency and worked for many years. While working for this advertising agency, Carle created an advertisement with a striking red lobster that caught the eye of the respected author, Bill Martin Jr. One day, Martin called Carle to ask him to illustrate a book he had written, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. This was the start of Eric Carle's career in children's books. His illustrations are unique because they are all hand-painted papers that are cut and layered using collage techniques. Besides the beautiful pages, his books always offer the child the opportunity to learn something about the world around them. Eric Carle has expressed the love he has for his work and that he will never retire from making children's books. Carle says: "With many of my books I attempt to bridge the gap between the home and school. To me home represents, or should represent; warmth, security, toys, holding hands, being held. School is a strange and new place for a child. Will it be a happy place? There are new people, a teacher, classmates--will they be friendly? I believe the passage from home to school is the second biggest trauma of childhood; the first is, of course, being born. Indeed, in both cases we leave a place of warmth and protection for one that is unknown. The unknown often brings fear with it. In my books I try to counteract this fear, to replace it with a positive message. I believe that children are naturally creative and eager to learn. I want to show them that learning is really both fascinating and fun."