Charlotte’s Web is a timeless American literary classic by E.B. White. He also brought to life the wonderful children’s character, Stuart Little.
He is joined in this book by the legendary illustrator Garth Williams. I should say he is joined again by Garth as they had teamed up in White’s first book, Stuart Little.
Charlotte’s Web is a story about friendship, courage, and self-sacrifice.
In this classic tale, we follow a livestock pig, Wilbur, who narrowly escapes death from birth thanks to his adopted mother, Fern. She nurses him along until he is a month old, and then he is sold and sent to live with Fern’s uncle on his farm.
Wilbur loves the farm, the animals, and his pigpen in the barn. He also loves when Fern comes to visit. When school starts back for Fern, she can’t visit as often as she once did and Wilbur becomes depressed from being alone. The other animals aren’t as nice and friendly to him and he becomes sad.
Then one day he hears a small voice call out to him, “Salutations.” He looks up and discovers the tiny voice is coming from the doorway of his pigpen. It is there he discovers Charlotte in her web. They quickly become fast friends
Life was good again, that is until the old sheep informed Wilbur that his new owners plan to kill and eat him in the winter as they have with previous pigs in years past.
Wilbur cries and wails after hearing the news from the old sheep. “I don’t want to die,” cries Wilbur.
Charlotte begins to scheme a plan to help save Wilbur. She tells him not to worry, and that night she goes to work, putting her plan into action. But will her plan work? Will it save Wilbur come winter time?
This is one of the sweetest and heartfelt books I have read in a long time. The innocence of Wilbur will break your heart as he worries over his potential death come winter time. He is such a sweet and lovable character that you wish you could just reach through the pages of the book and bring him home with you to personally save him from his worries.
Garth continues his simple pen and ink style illustrations in Charlotte’s Web that he did in Stuart Little. He has a classical style of flowing lines and crosshatching that help to provide a clean drawing with depth. He helps to lend funny and lovable depictions of the characters described by White.
White’s “plain style” of writing really shines in this grounded, middle-of-America type story. It lends credibility to the human characters, making them feel genuine and authentic.
White once said that a writer, “should tend to lift people up, not lower them down. Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life.” He does just that in this classic tale. He helps the reader to see the positive aspects of life, despite the dangers that wait around the corner.
While we all know animals do not really talk as people do, White is able to allow the reader to care for them as more than an animal. He allows the reader to become vulnerable and immerse themselves in this world of the barn that he has shaped.
While this used to be, and still is I imagine, required reading in most middle schools, it is worth talking about again. It has been some time since I was a middle schooler, but this book still hits me emotionally the same way it did back then. I would dare to say, it hit me harder having experienced worries as Wilbur has, having loved and lost and loved again.
Upon revisiting, I found myself more deeply connected to the characters' struggles and fears than before, making this well worth the reread.
If you liked this book, check out our "The Book vs. The Movie" blog to see how it compares to the movie!
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Other books By Garth Williams that you might enjoy!
