Eating its way through all kinds of delicious foods for 40 years, Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar is heading for an L&M expansion as the property’s licensing rep Chorion inks a raft of global deals.

State-side, licensees lining up to celebrate the famous insect’s 40th anniversary include Dunecraft (terrariums); Pacific Playtents (play tents, tunnels and play parachutes); Bioworld (headwear, bags and wallets); Epicuren (children’s skincare products), Meadwestvaco (calendars), Rasta Imposta (Halloween costumes and accessories) and Vtech (VSmile Baby The Very Hungry Caterpillar software).

In the UK, new partners include Brecrest (apparel, infant bedding), H&A (bath products), Character World (bedding), Rainbow Designs (wooden and soft toys in addition to its existing plush range); Shreds Limited (aprons, tabards, bags and painting sets), UK Greetings (greetings cards); Fabric Flavours (children’s t-shirts), Funky Feet (infant footwear), Talking Tables (party goods) and If (bookmarks).

Further afield in Germany, Gerstenberg has promo plans in the works for the year, as the publisher comes aboard to take on stationery. Other new licensees include Schmidt Spiele and University Games (partners for games and puzzles), Nudnik (infant apparel and plush) and Werkhaus (wooden toys).

And down under, Portmerion has signed on as ceramic dinnerware, storage jars and money banks licensee for Australia.

The original children’s picture book from Eric Carle is published by Penguin in the US. One copy is sold every 30 seconds and it’s been translated into more than 45 languages. This year, a new pop-up book is being published and will be released in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, Taiwan and Norway in time for The Very Hungry Caterpillar Day.