Charlotte's Web

I'm sharing this review with the intention of being particularly helpful to parents of toddlers and preschoolers. I found that having a very young child with the attention span to sit through chapters of a novel left me scrambling a bit to find novels that were appropriate in theme and content for her age. I am reviewing each novel we have read or tried in the hopes of being helpful to other parents in the same situation.

Charlotte's Web by EB White was the second novel we read, and we selected it for two reasons. First, it was already on our bookshelf, and second, an area park was planning to host the live-action movie, projected outside for a picnic-under-the-stars movie experience. I thought the second sounded really fun, and having seen the live action version, I thought my daughter would really enjoy it.

It was a bit of a gamble starting this one primarily because it tackles the concept of death, and a young three year old might not handle that well. But, knowing her as I do, I decided to try it on, and see how she responded. I decided that I'm not opposed to altering the story if I felt it necessary. Though I'm generally opposed to censorship, I feel this is fine, as I do not intend to keep ideas from her, merely gauge when she is ready for them. Regarding death, I felt that to some extent she had already been exposed to insect death, and that animal death is a natural extension of that idea. So, after noting the possible red-flags this novel brought with it, we began reading.

My daughter fell in love with this story. She considers it Fern's story, which I find interesting. The novel begins with Fern, and she is Wilbur's first advocate. I think she liked the idea of a pig all wrapped up in a baby blanket, in a doll's carriage, drinking milk from a bottle. I think she liked to experience being a caregiver vicariously through Fern. I saw confusion and shock flash across her face during the early scene when Fern rescued Wilbur from an early death. I think to some extent, Fern won my daughter's devotion in that early scene. Like Fern, the idea that this baby pig should be killed because it was small, was not only foreign but definitely wrong. It was neat to see her draw that conclusion, and empathize with a character on the basis of emotion and moral righteousness. In that passage, I knew we'd done right to select this book, and that it gave her the gift of literature in a way that previous reading hadn't. It gave her books as a vehicle for examining ideas and drawing conclusions, as a means of experiencing difficult situations without actually having to live them.

She very much enjoyed the antics of Charlotte, Wilbur, and Templeton. She was a quiet listener, so that often times I wondered if she was fully engaged, and was surprised to find upon questioning that she was definitely fully with me. I was surprised by how well she kept with the story, not growing bored when we covered long passages about the wind blowing through the trees and the seasons changing on the the farm. I'd have predicted that she would need the clever antics to keep her interest up, but she was a rapt audience for the entirety of the book.

In the end, we took Charlotte's death on headlong, not editing or softening the blow. I felt the whole book had prepared for it, and to leave it out or soften it in the end would have made the preparation excessive. White was very wise in his handling of the story. It is very much an introduction to the idea of death, and he puts out early the idea that Wilbur may die, an idea his audience is not equipped to handle. Still, he prepares the audience for it, never lying. Never promising that it won't become a reality, presenting hope alongside the reality of death, and leaving the reader to know that those are what we have: the certainty of ultimate death, and hope in the face of it. And I love that he didn't chicken out. He didn't give us Wilbur, the victor over death and a means to avoid dealing with death as a certainty. He gave us Wilbur, saved from the slaughterhouse and free to live as full a life as any of us. And he gave us Charlotte, whose complete life came to it's natural end in this book. In doing so, he asks the reader to explore the idea of death and of the life-cycle, without giving them a free-pass. He is honest about it, and I respect that. He recognized that children weren't ready to say good-bye to Wilbur, and most especially not at the hand of humans and not by choice, but that he had prepared them for the idea of death and a natural death could be more easily accepted and understood. And so, Charlotte dies, and Wilbur lives to die another day, and my daughter begins to explore this idea and to decide for herself what it means to have a life.

Lots of questions accompanied this book, and followed it. Why do the people want to kill Wilbur? Why do we eat animals? Why does Charlotte not want Wilbur to die? Why did the farmer decide not to kill Wilbur? Why did Charlotte die? Do people also die? Will I die? Will you die when I die? What will happen after I die? When will I die? When will you die? Are Charlotte's babies sad because they don't have a mommy? And so on. And they are all important questions and I thank EB White for giving them to my daughter in such a gentle and loving way and allowing us to experience them together.

Good

"It's not often that someone comes along who is a true friend . . ."

Fern Arable, eight year old farm girl, stops her father from killing a piglet who has been labeled the runt of the litter. She names the piglet Wilbur and nurses him from the bottle, surrounding him with her love. When Wilbur is able to eat on his own, they sell him to Fern's uncle Mr. Zuckerman, who lives near by. Soon Wilbur finds himself in a barn full of animals and scents of straw, manure, and slops. The only thing missing - is a true friend.

That's how a great bond of friendship begins between Wilbur and a spider named Charlotte, who lives in the rafters above his pen. With Christmas time approaching, Charlotte comes up with a plan to save Wilbur from the mean and cold-hearted slaughter of turning him into the bacon. To persuade Mr. & Mrs. Zuckerman that Wilbur is not an ordinary pig and needs to be spared, Chralotte devotes all her time and strength to weaving words into her web. One morning she presents the words "Some Pig" in her web in the top corner of the barn's doorway. A hurdle of people came to see this miracle, a sign from above, the miracle nobody can explain. That's how a Wilbur becomes an attraction of the state, a famous Zuckerman's pig.

Wilbur is not in danger anymore, thanks to Charlotte. But the spider herself is not into loud celebrations - she grows weaker and weaker with each following day. On the day of the Fair, she gets her last strength to accompany her friend on his special trip. Among the cheer of the crowd on the Fair's Grounds, Charlotte quietly makes an egg sac and passes it onto Wilbur's care, quietly staying behind herself: "After all, what is a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while , we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that." Wilbur guards her eggs in the barn until her babies are born in the spring, and while most of them fly away, three baby spiders stay behind and become his friends. He's able to guide them the way Charlotte guided him, which brings a wonderful sense of continuity and satisfaction.

In this tender story of friendship, hardship, and the passing on into time, E.B. White reminds us of the wonder and miracle found in the simplest of things. But above all, it is a powerful story of friendship - deeply moving and superbly written - a true, timeless classic.

Julia Shpak
Author of "Power of Plentiful Wisdom". Available on Amazon.
For more book reviews visit my blog "Julia's Library"[...]

"The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever. Even on the most beautiful days of the whole year - the days when summer is changing into fall - the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change."

There are powerful messages that every child longs to hear: life is special and worth cherishing at all costs - and against all odds. That is the backdrop for this tale. I read this book in the third grade and I'm now reading it aloud to my children at bedtime.

On my daughter's level, the animals talk. Great fun. And on my sons' level, we struggle to survive and have to plan for the future (but how?). Oh yeah, spiders are cool too.

So much of E.B.White's prose is visceral - looking across a pasture at dusk: the smell of horses, the slanted rays of the sun illuminating small vortices of insects, the nearby sounds of crops shaking in the breeze, the pink hues of the sky. This is the world of Charlotte's Web. Against this pastoral beauty, the main themes of this book center on mortality and friendship. Life is tragically ephemeral whether this is the life of a runt pig, or the fate of the same spring pig.

My children marvel that in a great hour of need, desperately alone, a heroine comes in the most unlikely of forms. We learn that perhaps the greatest obstacle to salvation isn't the effort of a savior, but rather the assent of a trusting soul - "But Charlotte," said Wilbur, "I'm not terrific."

Little minds (and big ones too) can wrestle with big ideas when reading this book. Just what is our purpose while we are in this "barnyard"? Is it to play the role of the rescuer or rescued. Or do we standby like the sheep and geese, and even self absorbed rats can be deliverers sometimes too.

"It's not often that someone comes along who is a true friend . . ." maybe the most applicable truth in this tale. As I read this book at night, I look at my children, who are growing up before my very eyes. I hope we learn from this book to be rescuers, to have the humility to be rescued, and to treasure our true friends. I turn off the lights and in the distance I hear the crickets, warning me that summertime cannot last forever.

DON'T EVEN THINK OF DEPRIVING YOUR CHILDREN OF THIS BOOK.

I never liked spiders and I've never been especially fond of pigs, but EB White's tall tale of Charlotte and Fern and Wilbur the Pig is and always will be one of the best books ever written. Why I don't classify this masterpiece as a children's book is because there's so many life lessons to be found in it, so many universal truths that this books should be mandatory reading for every person on the planet.

I always cry at the end. The loss of friendship is something (once experienced) that will always affect the human soul. This is one of my very favorite children's books, but as I already said, it is also one of my favorite books of all time.

Always a favorite and my grand daughter loved it.

Before you get married, ask your prospective husband if he likes the book Charlotte's Web. If he doesn't like the book, RUN. QUICKLY. LEAVE HIM AT THE ALTAR. This man obviously has a cold piece of ice where his heart should have been, and you do not want to commit the rest of your life to him!

Hands down one of the best children's books ever written! My six-year-old daughter was so into this book that she read for four hours non-stop! She could not put it down. When she was done we rented the movie, and after watching it she said, "I'd much rather read the book again! It's soooooo good!!"

Charlotte's Web is a very fun book. It is about a pig named Wilbur; he is loving , kind. He is raised by a girl named Fern. Now he is a barn pig, and a spider named Charlotte tries to save him. I recommend this book to people that are kind and lovely like Charlotte.

When I read this as a 4th grader, I didn't see half the insights and life's lessons that I did as I grew up. Maybe I did, but just didn't see it the same way, Either way, this book is a gem to introduce young readers into partaking into reading for pleasure. My 4th grade teacher would read a 1/2 hour to us after lunch every other day, and she chose both E.B. White's classics, including "Stuart Little." But "Charlotte's Web" at such a young age left such a lump in my throat, that when sick from school for a week, my mom gave in to my pleas for buying me that book. Felt like a celebrity when I returned to school w/ that book in hand-like George Kennedy's character in Cool Hand Luke with Newman's picture w/ some ladies. I had something everyone else in class wanted. Even got some chocolate milk offers to borrow it! All in all, this book evokes some great memories, not just of the story told, but how such books can form one's life, in this case my desire to read more. This book stands above all other children's books in my lifetime. It's an easy, wonderful read for kids of all ages.