https://www.npr.org/2021/05/29/ [login to see] /opinion-eric-carle-brought-light-and-color-to-our-lives
He called himself a "picture-writer." But there was not a lot about the way Eric Carle grew up to make you think he'd go on to create books for children about bugs, birds, bears and blue horses.
He was born in Syracuse, New York, but his family moved back to Germany when he was 6. Eric was conscripted at 15 to dig trenches along the Siegfried Line, the German defense emplacement of tunnels and tank traps that was brutal to build, and relentlessly bombarded by the Allies.