Charlotte's Web

Charlotte’s Web	Scholastic Inc.
Written by E.B. White	2003
Modern Fantasy	240 pages
Reading Level age 6 -11	Newberry Award

Summary

Fern saved a pig from being killed because he was the runt of the litter. She named him Wilbur and did everything with him. Wilbur would wait for her to come home from school and play with him. Soon Wilbur was too big and moved to Uncle Zuckerman’s farm. He lived in the barn near a big manure pile that was soft and comfortable. One day he was lonely because it was raining and Fern wouldn’t come to sit with him. He cried and was miserable until a voice said it would be his friend and to go to sleep. The next day Wilbur met Charlotte, a gray barn spider that captured flies and drank their blood. Wilbur thought her to be violent and disgusting. As he got to know Charlotte, he found how kind she was and was grateful that she gave her victims a bite that made them not feel anything. He was running around the pen when an old sheep told him the reality: Zuckerman was going to kill him for dinner, come winter. Wilber was horrified and didn’t want to die. Charlotte calmed him down and said she would come up with a plan. She did by writing Some Pig in her web. It was a sensation. People came from all around to see the writing. When the web was ragged, Charlotte wove more words into her web. She had Templeton, the rat that lived under Wilbur’s trough find words in the dump behind the apple tree. Again there was a big fuss about how amazing Wilbur was and he soon began to feel special and radiant. Eventually, there was a big fair that Wilbur was to be judged in. He is loaded into the crate where Charlotte and Templeton were already hiding. Charlotte wove one last web with the word Humble in it, then she went to work on her egg sack. It would be her biggest triumph. Wilbur didn’t win the competition since there was a huge pig in the stall next to him, but Wilbur was given a special medal and had his picture taken. When it was time to go, Charlotte was too weak to crawl down from her loft, even to take her egg sack home. Wilbur told Templeton to go bring the egg sack down. Wilbur held it in his mouth the whole drive home, thinking of Charlotte, his best friend. He carefully watched over the egg sack and waited for it to hatch. He wasn’t killed, thanks to Charlotte and her web and experienced snow and the cold winter. In the spring, the egg hatched and thousands of little spiders crawled onto the fence and blew away. Wilbur was so sad that none stayed until he heard three voices coming from the rafters. They decided to stay and be his friends. There were many generations of barn spiders that passed, but none were as special to Wilbur as Charlotte, who was a true friend.

Reaction

I loved the book. It was well written and didn’t lag in the storyline. The characters were defined and had relatable features. It was believable because Fern was able to understand what the animals were saying and could communicate back. There were good morals about friendship that readers could understand and apply to their lives.

Potential Problems

In the end Charlotte dies and leaves Wilbur to take care of her children. It would be depressing for younger children, but could lead into a great discussion about death and remembering memories of the person, like Wilbur did: telling Charlotte’s story to her children.

Recommendations

I would recommend this book to readers that love animal characters and solving problems. It would be a great story circle book, since there are many characters for each child to be a part.