UK-based family entertainment producer and distributor Chorion has just announced a series of licensing and promotional deals for book-based property The World of Eric Carle in the US, Canada and Japan.

The promotional campaign with Walmart’s PictureMe Portrait Studios puts children’s portraits in frames featuring Carle’s most famous character, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which will be available across 1,800 of the retailer’s stores in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico from April 7 to 22.

Footwear company Stride Rite Children’s Group is creating an infant shoe line based on characters from classic books Brown Bear, Brown Bear and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The line is launching this fall at US Stride Rite stores and other specialty retailers. Web giant Google, meanwhile, has crafted a Google Doodle t-shirt for infants to adults, featuring The Very Hungry Caterpillar, available online at www.googlestore.com.

In Japan, licensees Kreo, Circle K and Sunkus will collaborate on a Wonderful Bread Life baked goods campaign in which customers buying baked goods at any of the 6,100 Sankus and Circle K locations are invited to go online and enter for a chance to win Eric Carle-branded products.

New licensing programs for The Very Hungry Caterpillar are launching soon in Benelux, Korea and France.