The Secret Birthday Message: A Fun Eric Carle Picture Book About Coded Adventures for Children

by Eric Carle

A message in code starts a little boy off on an exciting treasure hunt through a dark cave, an underground tunnel, and more—until at the end he finds a happy surprise. This classic picture book from the beloved Eric Carle can be shared as an enjoyable story. Preschoolers will be intrigued by the adventures and pleased by the puppy at the conclusion. The Secret Birthday Message can also be used as a fun spring board for teaching some basic concepts. As Publishers Weekly The book introduces "pattern recognition, matching shapes, map-reading, and directional relationships in full-color pages that allow preschoolers to participate fully in the enticing adventure." The nonprofit MathThroughStories organization recommends reading the book and then having "children hide a 'treasure' somewhere in the classroom and create their own map with directions for how to find the hidden treasure. Encourage the children to use geometric shapes to represent objects and furniture in the classroom. When the maps are finished, children give the map to another treasure hunter." Other favorite classic books from Eric Carle include The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, From Head to Toe, and many others.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Mathematics, Fiction, Adventure, Storytime, Animals

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1972

About the author

Eric Carle was an American author, designer and illustrator of children's books. His picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, first published in 1969, has been translated into more than 66 languages and sold more than 50 million copies. Carle's career as an illustrator and children's book author accelerated after he collaborated on Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Carle illustrated more than 70 books, most of which he also wrote, and more than 145 million copies of his books have been sold around the world.
In 2003, the American Library Association awarded Carle the biennial Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (now called the Children's Literature Legacy Award), a prize for writers or illustrators of children's books published in the U.S. who have made lasting contributions to the field. Carle was also a U.S. nominee for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2010.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book! I love the idea behind this one. A child gets a birthday message, it is a letter with symbols. The child then looks for the shapes the letter mentions to find their birthday present. It's a great idea and one you could easily do at home for a birthday. This would make a lovely birthday gift with a letter of your own in the back. The lucky child in this book receives the most lovely gift anyone could give! Highly recommended.

Read on open library.

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! Great for young children for learning shapes and as they’re reading/listening to solve a puzzle to find a (very wonderful) birthday gift.

The illustrations are wonderful. Vibrant colors! Great cut outs on the pages. The shapes are unusual for a shapes book and they’re interesting and pertinent to the story/puzzle. This book is a lot of fun. Some young kids will spend a good deal of time with this one.

[Burton Wolfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Eric Carle books. The illustrations are great. It is about a boy who finds a secret message under his pillow and it is coded with shapes. It is a typical Eric Carle book where the shapes are cut out of the pages giving glimpses of what is behind it. The boy ends up following the directions and finds a puppy for his birthday. Curriculum wise for use in a classroom it would be great for students to make their own secret messages and read them to each other and try to figure them out within the classroom or at the playground! I think it would provide a great insight for the children in giving written directions along with understanding different shapes.

[Hendrix Hill]

Read this with my mommy and daddy on my birthday 🥳 excited to see what the world has to offer!

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

One could reasonably say Eric Carle's work is the professional opera of the children's book world: stories that usually don't proceed in linear fashion, but with stunning visuals and lavish production values. The esteemed author-illustrator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, and Hello, Red Fox has created another picture book of operatic proportions in The Secret Birthday Message, an innovative piece comparable to the offerings of Simms Taback and Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Pages of drastically differing shape and size harmoniously layer one atop the next as the story progresses toward its final reveal.

The night before Tim's birthday, he finds a note and coded instructions waiting on his bed. His present can be found by following a series of clues that take him out into the deep, dark night, through a bat-filled cave, down an underground walkway, and finally to the location of his birthday gift. What a memorable search it is, with a nice payoff at the end when we discover what Tim is getting for his birthday. If only all birthdays could be so much fun; and for the reader, they can be, with each new expedition through this book. Just open it back to page one anytime you're in the mood for a mini adventure.

Eric Carle's artwork is as appealing as almost anyone's, and The Secret Birthday Message is an enjoyable romp for young fortune seekers eager to help Tim hunt down his birthday cache. I'd give it one and a half stars, and the only reason I don't go higher is the story's sparsity. The Secret Birthday Message is a surefire delight for Eric Carle fans, a pleasure to reread as often as one wishes.

[Canette Arille · Rating 4 out of 5]

The day before his birthday, Tim found a mysterious letter written in code. He sat down on the bed and started reading it. It beginning: "When the moon comes up, look for the biggest star"...

And at the end of the mysterious letter, it says where his birthday present is.

A very nice book for children. It teaches them to recognize shapes. Book is full of colors, designed with cutout shapes. Children can touch the shapes, and this will help them remember more. Moreover, the book teaches how to think, developes creative thinking, while deciphering a message. Where could this gift be?
At the end of the book, the child will find a gift. It is a puppy :)
You have to read this book. Is perfect to educate Your child

[Crystal Marcos · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband and I read this to our daughter for her birthday and we enjoyed ourselves. She wanted to read it again, but it was past her bedtime. She was disappointed at first, but quickly moved to excited once she heard we would read it again tomorrow. This is a neat way to teach shapes and following directions. The colors were bright and the cutouts are very fun. It is a unique Eric Carle book. I hadn't heard of this one until it was recommended to me by a friend. Sure glad they shared it with me. Great read for any day.

[Askorbinka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really hesitated when I was buying this one. The plot seemed complicated for the little children, the trick with the figures and corresponding objects looked too sophisticated as well. But surprisingly my son (1.9 y.o.) loved it. He calls it “the book about a dog” and patiently goes through all the pages to discover a dog which makes him very excited.

[Haaley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very simple but creative book. The kids liked that the pages were cut to the size of the next object.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that this book has a unique twist on shapes and coding. This book could be used to introduce patterns and how shapes can associate to objects. I like that this book is simple and includes multiple different topics to go over. This could go into creating maps and learning about directions. This book would be an engaging book to introduce higher-tier concepts like mapping an area or deciphering directions.

This book would be for PreK-K. It is simple and doesn't contain much informational content but can extend into other subject areas. I would recommend this because it can spark curiosity with the children towards maps, shapes, and directional awareness.

I would expand this book towards social studies and using maps. This could create interest for the children to want to learn about maps and how they are made. This could expand into geometry as well and how we see shapes all around us. The shapes are associated with objects in the story and can lead children to think about shapes they see at home or school.

The conversations with math would be towards geometry as it includes using shapes to identify objects. This can expand into the conversations of combining shapes and questioning the similarities and differences in the attributes. I would go into conversations about social studies as this can be an engaging book to create interest in maps and locations. The students could create questions about how maps are made and can lead someone to specific destinations.

I would use this in a math lesson towards geometry as it can teacher how shapes appear around us and some can combine into a bigger image. I would want to attempt a social studies lesson where the students create their own map as well because this simply introduces the concept of maps and locations. This could expand into higher-scale maps and trying to understand how a map is made.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim receives a strange handwritten message on his birthday. The letter contains different shapes for each location. (For instance, the semicircle in the note represents the moon.) For each clue given in the following pages, there’s a sentence of text and one of Eric Carle’s illustrations--done as a collage.

The alternate pages depict one of Carle’s sentences and a drawing of the mysterious shape in which its page is cut into a rising moon, yellow star, etc. However, each clue fits in with the picture on the following page. The front and final pages each show a two-page spread. On the latter pages, Tim and his birthday “present” need to reverse their way to get back home.

Eric Carle brings another great children's story to life with his words and illustrations. Even though he's been gone for the past few years, his legacy as an author and illustrator continues to live on. I definitely will read more of Carle's works plus I want to take a road-trip to his museum next time I get to the Boston area. (There's the Dr. Seuss Museum close by, too!)

Rating for "The Secret Birthday Message": ****-1/2

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a boy who finds a mysterious encoded note on his birthday. Eric Carle's art style is easily recognizable. His art is always really colorful and soft. This style could be really comforting for young kids learning to read. This would make this a great early book. The book's design also involves interactive elements for kids by way of holes and shapes cut into the pages. These holes can break up the monotony of the pages for kids and help keep them invested in the story. As a teaching tool, the book could be used for a number of early lessons. The story's reliance on shapes could lend it to teaching young students about different shapes and how to recognize those shape in real life objects. And the holes in the pages could be a great way to introduce the reading strategy of predicting by having readers consider what might happen next in the story based on what just happened and what they can see through the holes.

[Sarah Rogers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Carle does it again with his illustrative technique and use of collage to tell this story about one boy’s birthday gift. Tim wakes up to a coded birthday message that will lead him to the present for his birthday. The cutouts of the different shapes that correlate to his map/code message are cutout on the pages as Tim journeys to find his gift. The moon, rock, stairs, etc all are illustrated and cutout in connection to show the reader the path Tim takes to find his gift, a puppy in a basket. The end of the book also depicts his journey to give readers an even clearer understanding of what Tim exactly did to find his gift and crack the code of this mathematical and social studies birthday message. A great opportunity for cross curricular topics such as a map key and mathematical codes, this book does it all with a great artistic and illustrative style. A classic that teachers could use in their classroom to make a variety of connections.

[Ashtyn Baribault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tim finds a secret message under his pillow on the night before his birthday. The letter he finds is a code for a scavenger hunt that will lead him to his birthday present. After Tim wakes up the next morning he follows the scavenger hunt clues all the way until he finds his birthday gift. The illustrations throughout this book was my favorite part. I enjoyed that the scavenger hunt had a little preview of what the shapes he would be looking for looked like. The use of shapes throughout the book can give the reader practice seeing and finding different shapes. I also thought it was unique to put the path that Tim took in the back of the book so the readers can see where exactly Tim went.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun Eric Carle picture book to read on my birthday. I purposefully sought out something to read that would be fun for the occasion and this one didn't disappoint. My son actually read it over my shoulder and was just as impressed.

It includes the cutout shapes of the pages like Hungry Caterpillar but also has an air of mystery with the secret message. And it inspired me to think about doing something similar for my sons' birthday months away.

The boy is able to figure out his surprise in a "Family Circus" kind of adventure that only the art of Carle can do justice to.

[Nicole Kortright]

This book is an interactive book which has the reader find the birthday present with the boy in the book by following the steps in a letter, using spatial concepts and shapes. This book is beneficial in targeting spatial relationship development (up, down, below, behind, through, in etc.). This book is a fun book for school-age children which also helps them develop an understanding of these relationships. The book can be used to assess comprehension of these relationships by asking questions throughout the book.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very different from what I have seen by Eric Carle. Published in West Germany in 1971 and in the United States in 1972. The young child receives a not with with words in a picture telling of a birthday surprise.
Then as one turns the pages which reveal the clues each page is cut into the shape of the object the child is to find that leads to the surprise. For example brick stair steps that are cut into steps. Unique. Children who like this will soon read the story to themselves as they “read” the shaped pages.

Versailles Public Library

[Maria Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love Eric Carle but somehow never read this one! The art is beautiful, I like the story and the ending is cute. But I don’t love the die-cut pages that are awkward to turn. It’s just disruptive to the story and especially the “rock page” just flips open on its own. It’s a neat idea but I don’t like how it actually functions. I love the really bright colors on the front cover - especially the pink house against the blue sky.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This picture book is super fun for kids, they get to guess what the symbols and shapes mean and what the birthday surprise is! This story is great for early elementary and is a good way to have kids name shapes and symbols while also reading the story. The story is very cohesive and smooth, the pictures are so much fun and interactive as each page is a different shape or symbol relating to the story, so readers feel like they are following the directions in the birthday note.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this book in a mystery storytime for preschoolers. I used felt cutouts of all of the shapes and had kids name the shapes and make a prediction about what each shape would be as we read the story. This seemed to make the story particularly engaging for the kids, and of course this is a story with a happy ending. This isn't really a lift-the-flap book, but the pages are shaped so that you are looking through or beyond one page to another.

[Nadina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I somewhat figured out the clues to the note before continuing the book, I just didn't have the full specifics for some things and chose a wrong/similar thing for others (I said sun for the first thing instead of moon).
I love the format of the book and the fact each page is shaped to match the shape of the clue it is filling.
The illustrations were cute.
Good for a small group or one-on-one read, not ideal for storytime.

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute little story that I prefer to the author's more popular Hungry Caterpillar. The shapes make a cute puzzle for children, and I love the cut out shapes like half moon circle, star sun, etc, and it was a sweet ending with dog/puppy birthday gift. Short, nice kid read for Kindergarten ish age :)

[Jvermeersch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pagina's met uitsnijdingen zijn zo leuk voor baby's, zo goed om hun nieuwsgierigheid mee te wekken. In dit boek zijn ze goed in het verhaal verwerkt via een brief vol symbolen die overeenkomen met de uitsnijdingen, als uitnodiging voor een zoektocht. De tekeningen zijn niet echt mijn stijl, maar voor de rest een leuk boek.

[Tanner Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book introduces different shapes and relates those shapes to objects you see in your life. This book is a great early introduction to shapes book. The book also shows the steps to get to williams birthday gift then a map at the end showing how william got to his present. This book would be very engaging for young children.

[Neeli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filled with die-cut illustrations, this interactive book was a huge hit. Young independent readers will love using their knowledge of shapes to unravel the secret message. It's one of those books that will get read many times.

[Cindy Sarnowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eric Carle hits another homerun with this simple story that uses clues to solve a puzzle. Shapes are used cleverly to reveal where the birthday message has been hidden. Each page reveals the next part of the puzzle ending with a sweet puppy.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

My children absolutely adore this book. Reading literature is so important to the development of a child's mind, and I cannot think of thing I would rather do then sit down to read to them in the evenings. Imagination and growth are so vital in those so young.

[Becki Iverson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more a 3.5 but no half stars. All the usual cute things about Eric Carle books apply here. I enjoyed the cut out pages which make this a very engaging block book, and fun for littles to put their fingers through.

[Marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute holes and shapes cut in the paper.

[薇 許 · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was a very extiting book. Ilove it .