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It’s a caterpillabration!

Jefferson-DeFrees Family Center to celebrate 50th birthday of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’

'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'

Butterfly breeders claim a Monarch caterpillar can defoliate a one-gallon milkweed plant — consuming 175 to 200 leaves per caterpillar — before transforming to the chrysalis stage.

So how much could a famished caterpillar eat in 50 years?

That question and more may be posed by inquisitive minds as people gather to celebrate the 50th birthday of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.”

The celebration will take place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, at the Jefferson DeFrees Family Center, 207 Second Ave., Warren. It’s open to the public.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a children’s picture book designed, illustrated, and written by Eric Carle, first published by the World Publishing Company in 1969.

The main character is a caterpillar who munches his way through a wide variety of edibles prior to pupating and emerging as a butterfly.

The story progresses from egg to butterfly as the Very Hungry Caterpillar eats through increasing numbers of fruit for five straight days. His diet then slips to an assortment of less-fruity options which results in some sickly butterflies in his stomach. One green leaf alleviates the upset tummy but the gorging has left him neither hungry or little. Then, of course, comes a cocoon, a couple weeks of slumber and a completely different appearance when he emerges.

The book has been awarded numerous children’s literature awards and a major graphic design award. It has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

There will be some copies of the book given away at the Caterpillar Party, according to Jennifer Madigan, a group supervisor at the Jefferson DeFrees Family Center and local program coordinator for Imagination Library.

The center has been affiliated with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library for nearly a year. “We received our affiliate number in March 2018,” Madigan said. “We mailed our first books in July 2018. We mailed 15 books that month.”

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth until they begin school, regardless of their family’s income.

The program launched in 1995 and grew quickly. The first books were only distributed to children living in Sevier County, Tenn., where Parton grew up.

In 2000 a national replication effort took place. By 2003, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library had mailed one million books.

After the United States, the program launched in Canada in 2006 followed by the United Kingdom in 2007 and Australia joined in 2013.

Hundreds of local children are part of the growing number of recipients of free books.

“We have just over 500 kids registered at this point,” Madigan said. “I have completed the process for the March mailing and we will mail 514 books for the month of March. From July 2018 to February 2019 we have mailed 2359 books.”

The Very Hungry Caterpillar 50th Birthday Celebration will begin with a special reading of the book. Caterpillar-related activities including games, crafts, and refreshments will follow.

Costumes are encouraged.

The event is made possible by the Imagination Library of Warren County, the Jefferson DeFrees Family Center, and the Warren Public Library.

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