<DIV>My father loved animals, it is from him that I inherited that love for all kinds of creatures. My father liked to draw, it is from him that I inherited the joy of picture making. My father was a story teller, it is from him that I learned to tell a story.<br><br></i>Eric Carle known for his outstanding picture books, among them <b><i>The Very Hungry Caterpillar</b></i>, has now turned his talent to writing these short stories. <i>Flora and Tiger</i> is an exuberant and touching collection of personal vignettes dedicated to his gentle father, from his earliest years in America, through his boyhood in the shadow of war in Germany, to the present as an adult living and working in the United States.<br><br>Eric Carle writes of his <i>Oma</i> (German grandmother) and the hen who might have been a rooster, his cousin Fritz and the turtle who loved a cat, his friend Sol and his kidnapped black cat, and his Uncle Adam and his tamed ravens, and many others.<br><br>"These stories have three things in common," Eric Carle writes, "animals and insects, my family and friends. and me." Writing with wit and charm, full of love for the people around him, in these stories, Eric Carle welcomes readers, young and old, into his world.</div>