It is hard to choose my very favorite children's book. My own children loved Good Night Moon when they were very young and I have fond memories of them reading the story along with me. Now, as a new preschool teacher, I gravitate towards books with a theme that covers the core basics of early literacy, math, and science. The Very Hungry Caterpillar does just that! It is a fun book to introduce and review numbers, counting and size concepts. It also covers the days of the week and time. It  allows you to cover the importance of eating nutritious foods versus unhealthy snacks. The caterpillar did get a tummy ache, after all. The life cycle of a butterfly is introduced as well. And let's not forget how the children love the repetition in the story, especially when they chant along, "But he was still hungry!" Every early childhood classroom should have at least one Eric Carle book filled with those colorful illustrations. I'm particularly fond of that cute little caterpillar.