In The Very Hungry Caterpillar, the caterpillar turns into a butterfly.
Eric Carle’s picture book follows a caterpillar that hatches from an egg, eats its way through a range of foods, and grows larger. After suffering a stomachache from overeating, it eats a green leaf, builds a protective covering, and later emerges as a brightly coloured butterfly.
The story introduces young readers to metamorphosis while also teaching counting, the days of the week, and the names of foods. Carle’s collage illustrations and the holes punched through the pages to show the caterpillar’s eating became signature features of the book. It was first published in 1969 and became one of the best-known modern children’s picture books.
Readers sometimes notice that the story calls the covering a cocoon. Technically, butterflies usually develop inside a chrysalis, while many moths spin cocoons. Carle acknowledged this distinction but explained that the familiar word suited the book’s poetic language. That technical detail does not change the story’s canonical ending: the caterpillar becomes a butterfly.