Charlotte's Web is a book of children's literature by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams. It was published on October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers. It tells the story of a livestockpig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered, Charlotte writes messages in her web praising him, such as "Some Pig", "Terrific", "Radiant", and "Humble", to persuade the farmer to let him live.
The book is considered a classic of children's literature, enjoyed by readers of all ages.[1] The description of the experience of swinging on a rope swing at the farm is an often-cited example of rhythm in writing, as the pace of the sentences reflects the motion of the swing. In 2000, Publishers Weekly listed the book as the best-selling children's paperback of all time.[2]
The Arable family are a farm family who raise and sell animals. One day, John Arable attempts to slaughter the runt of a litter of piglets that were born the night before, but his daughter Fern pleads for the piglet's life, and John gives him to her. Naming him Wilbur, Fern treats him as a pet, and the two become incredibly close. Eventually, Wilbur is no longer small, and so John decides to sell him, to Fern's dismay. Wilbur is given to Fern's maternal uncle, Homer Zuckerman, allowing her to periodically visit him.
From here on, the various farm animals are depicted as anthropomorphic. In Zuckerman's barnyard, Wilbur yearns for Fern and is met with varying reactions from the other animals, with some, such as the motherly goose, showing him compassion, and others, such as the head ram, treating him with scorn. One day, the ram offhandedly tells Wilbur that Zuckerman is raising him for slaughter and consumption, leaving him distraught. As he mourns his fate, a barn spider named Charlotte, whose web sits in a doorway overlooking his pigpen, comforts him. She promises to find a way to save his life and takes on a motherly role for him. Meanwhile, Fern often listens in on the animals' conversations, to her mother's concern.
As summer passes, Charlotte comes up with a plan to save Wilbur. Reasoning that Zuckerman would not kill a famous pig, she weaves words and short phrases in praise of Wilbur into her web, the first phrase being "Some Pig". This turns Wilbur, and the barn as a whole, into a tourist attraction because many people believe the web to be a miracle. After the excitement dies down, the phrase gets destroyed. On the goose's suggestion, Charlotte weaves the word "Terrific" into her web, beginning the cycle anew. Although Zuckerman is pleased with Wilbur's fame, his plan to slaughter him stays firm. In another effort to maintain the public's interest in him, Charlotte tells Templeton, a gluttonous rat that lives under Wilbur's trough and holds a contentious relationship with the other animals, to get another word for the web. Templeton finds a laundry detergent ad with the word "Radiant", which Charlotte then weaves into her web.
As a result of this latest round of fame, Zuckerman enters Wilbur in the county fair, and Charlotte and Templeton accompany him. The Arables also go to the fair, but Fern, despite still cherishing Wilbur, has matured, and instead spends time with her childhood sweetheart, Henry Fussy. Charlotte weaves another word brought by Templeton, "Humble", into the web she spins at Wilbur's stall at the fair. Wilbur fails to win first prize, but is awarded a special prize by the judges. Charlotte, who has laid an egg sac at the fair, hears the presentation of the award over the public address system and realizes that the prize means Zuckerman will cherish Wilbur for as long as he lives and will never slaughter him. However, Charlotte, being a barn spider with a naturally short lifespan, is already dying of natural causes by the time the award is announced. Knowing that she has saved Wilbur, and satisfied with the outcome of her life, she decides not to return to the barn with Wilbur and Templeton. She gives them her final request to have her egg sac taken back to the barn, and then dies alone at the fairgrounds.
Wilbur waits out the winter, during which Charlotte's children hatch. Most of them fly away, to Wilbur's dismay, but three choose to remain. Future descendants of Charlotte keep Wilbur company for many years, though he always holds Charlotte in more esteem than them all.
Wilbur is a rambunctious pig, the runt of his litter. He is often strongly emotional.
Charlotte A. Cavatica, or simply Charlotte, is a spider who befriends Wilbur. In some passages, she is the heroine of the story.[4]
John Arable is Wilbur's first owner.
Fern Arable, John's daughter, who adopts Wilbur when he's a piglet, and later visits him. She is the only human in the story capable of understanding animal conversation.
Lurvy, the hired man at Zuckerman's farm, who is the first to read the message in Charlotte's web.
Templeton is a rat who helps Charlotte and Wilbur only when offered food. He serves as a somewhat caustic, self-serving comic relief to the plot.
Avery Arable is Fern's elder brother and John's son. Like Templeton, he is a source of comic relief.
Homer Zuckerman is Fern's uncle who keeps Wilbur in his barn. He has a wife named Edith and an assistant named Lurvy.
Other animals in Zuckerman's barn, with whom Wilbur converses, include a disdainful lamb, a talkative goose, and an intelligent "old sheep".
Henry Fussy is a boy of Fern's age, of whom Fern becomes fond.
Dr. Dorian is the family physician/psychologist consulted by Fern's mother and something of a wise old man character.
Uncle is a large pig whom Charlotte disdains for coarse manners but is recognized as Wilbur's rival at the fair.
Charlotte's children are the 514 children of Charlotte the spider. Although they were born at the barn, all but three of them (Joy, Aranea, and Nellie) go their own ways by ballooning.
Themes
Death
Death is a major theme seen throughout the book and is brought forth by that of Charlotte. According to Norton D. Kinghorn, Charlotte's web acts as a barrier that separates the two worlds of life and death.[5] Scholar Amy Ratelle says that through Charlotte's continual killing and eating of flies throughout the book, White makes the concept of death normal for Wilbur and the readers.[6] Neither Wilbur nor Templeton sees death as a part of their lives; Templeton sees it only as something that will happen at some time in the distant future, while Wilbur views it as the end of everything.[7]
Wilbur constantly has death on his mind at night when he is worrying over whether or not he will be slaughtered.[8] Even though he is able to escape his death, Charlotte, who takes care of him, is not able to escape her own. She passes away, but, according to Trudelle H. Thomas, "even in the face of death, life continues and ultimate goodness wins out".[9] Jordan Anne Deveraux explains that E.B. White discusses a few realities of death. From the novel, readers learn that death can be delayed but that no one can avoid it forever.[10]
Change
For Norton D. Kinghorn, Charlotte's web also acts as a signifier of change. The change Kinghorn refers to is that of both the human world and the farm/barn world. For both of these worlds, change is something that can't be avoided.[5] Along with the changing of the seasons throughout the book, the characters also go through their own changes. Jordan Anne Deveraux also explains that Wilbur and Fern each go through their changes to transition from childhood closer to adulthood throughout the novel.[10] This is evidenced by Wilbur accepting death and Fern giving up her dolls. Wilbur grows throughout the book, allowing him to become the caretaker of Charlotte's children just as she was a caretaker for him, as is explained by scholar Sue Misheff.[11] But rather than accept the changes that are forced upon them, according to Sophie Mills, the characters aim to go beyond the limits of change.[8] In a different way, Wilbur goes through a change when he switches locations. Amy Ratelle explains that when he moves from the Arables' farm to Homer Zuckerman's farm, he goes from being a loved pet to a farm animal.
Innocence
Fern goes from being a child to being more of an adult. As she experiences this change, Kinghorn notes that it can also be considered a fall from innocence.[5] Wilbur also starts out young and innocent at the beginning of the book. A comparison is drawn between the innocence and youth of Fern and Wilbur. Sophie Mills states that they can identify with one another.[8] Both Wilbur and Fern are, at first, horrified by the realization that life must end; however, by the end of the book, they learn to accept that, eventually, everything must die.[10] According to Matthew Scully, the book presents the difference in the worldview of adults versus the worldview of children. Children, such as Fern, believe killing another for food is wrong, while adults have been gradually conditioned to believe that it is natural.[12]
History
The book was published three years after White began writing it.[13] His editor, Ursula Nordstrom, said that one day in 1952, he arrived at her office and handed her a new manuscript, the only copy of the book then in existence, which she read soon after and enjoyed.[14] The book was released on October 15, 1952.[15][16][17]
In light of White's Death of a Pig, published in 1948,[18] which gives an account of his own failure to save a sick pig (bought for butchering), the book can be seen as his attempt "to save his pig in retrospect".[19] His overall motivation for the book has not been revealed, and he once wrote: "I haven't told why I wrote the book, but I haven't told you why I sneeze, either. A book is a sneeze."[20]
When White met the spider who originally inspired Charlotte, he called her Charlotte Epeira (after Epeira sclopetaria, the Grey Cross spider, now known as Larinioides sclopetarius), before discovering that the more modern name for that genus was Aranea.[21] In the book, Charlotte gives her full name as "Charlotte A. Cavatica", revealing her as a barn spider, an orb-weaver with the scientific name Araneus cavaticus.[citation needed]
The arachnid anatomical terms (mentioned in the beginning of chapter nine) and other information that White used, came mostly from American Spiders by Willis J. Gertsch and The Spider Book by John Henry Comstock, both of which combine a sense of poetry with scientific fact.[22] White incorporated details from Comstock's accounts of baby spiders, most notably the "flight" of the young spiders on silken parachutes.[22] He sent Gertsch's book to illustrator Garth Williams.[23] Williams's initial drawings depicted a spider with a woman's face, and White suggested that he simply draw a realistic spider instead.[24]
White originally opened the book with an introduction of Wilbur and the barnyard (which later became the third chapter) but decided to begin the book by introducing Fern and her family on the first page.[23] White's publishers were at one point concerned with the end and tried to get him to change it.[25]
Charlotte's Web has become White's most famous book, but he treasured his privacy and that of the farmyard and barn that helped inspire it, which have been kept off limits to the public according to his wishes.[26]
Reception
The book was generally well-reviewed when it was released. In The New York Times, Eudora Welty wrote: "As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done."[27]
Aside from its paperback sales, the book is 78th on the all-time bestselling hardback book list. According to publicity for the 2006 film adaptation (see below), it has sold more than 45 million copies and been translated into 23 languages. It was a Newbery Honor book for 1953, losing to Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark for the medal.[28][29]
In 1970, White won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, a major prize in the field of children's literature, for Charlotte's Web along with his first children's book, Stuart Little (1945).[30]
Seth Lerer, in his book Children's Literature, finds that Charlotte represents female authorship and creativity, and compares her to other female characters in children's literature such as Jo March in Little Women and Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden.[31]Nancy Larrick brings to attention the "startling note of realism" in the opening line, "Where's Papa going with that ax?"[32]
Illustrator Henry Cole expressed his deep childhood appreciation of the characters and story, and calls Garth Williams's illustrations full of "sensitivity, warmth, humor, and intelligence".[33] Illustrator Diana Cain Bluthenthal states that Williams' illustrations inspired and influenced her.[34]
An unabridged audio book read by White himself reappeared decades after it had originally been recorded.[35]Newsweek writes that White reads the story "without artifice and with a mellow charm", and that "White also has a plangency that will make you weep, so don't listen (at least, not to the sad parts) while driving".[35] Joe Berk, president of Pathway Sound, had recorded the book with White in his neighbor's house in Maine (which Berk describes as an especially memorable experience) and released it in LP.[36] From Michael Sims: "The producer later said that it took him 17 takes to read the death scene of Charlotte. And finally, they would walk outside, and E.B. White would go, this is ridiculous, a grown man crying over the death of an imaginary insect. And then, he would go in and start crying again when he got to that moment."[37] Bantam released Charlotte's Web alongside Stuart Little on CD in 1991, digitally remastered, having acquired the two books for rather a large amount.[36]
In 2005, a teacher in California conceived of a project for her class in which they would send out hundreds of drawings of spiders (each representing Charlotte's child, Aranea, going out into the world so that she can return and tell Wilbur of what she has seen) with accompanying letters; they ended up visiting a large number of parks, monuments, and museums, and were hosted by and/or prompted responses from celebrities and politicians such as John Travolta and then-First Lady Laura Bush.[38]
In 2003, the book was listed at number 170 on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's 200 "best-loved novels".[39] A 2004 study found that it was a common read-aloud book for third-graders in schools in San Diego County, California.[40] Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed it as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."[41] It was one of the "Top 100 Chapter Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by School Library Journal.[42]
In 2010, the New York Public Library reported that Charlotte's Web was the sixth most borrowed book in its history.[43]
On March 8, 2022, it was announced that Sesame Workshop was working on an animated miniseries based on the book.[48] It was in production for a few months, and was slated to premiere in 2024 on Cartoon Network and HBO Max.[49] On November 3, 2022, it was reported that the miniseries would not be moving forward.[50] However, Canadian animation studio Guru Studio claimed it is still in production.[51]
A musical production was created with music and lyrics by Charles Strouse.[52]
Tricycle Productions (Montreal, Canada) produced a touring version of the show in 1996 with arrangements of Strouse's score by Canadian composer Derek Aasland.
Elwyn Brooks White was an American writer. He was the author of several highly popular books for children, including Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970).
Stuart Little is a 1945 American children's novel by E. B. White. It was White's first children's book, and became recognized as a classic in children's literature. Stuart Little was illustrated by the artist Garth Williams, also his first work for children.
Julia Ann Harris was an American actress. Renowned for her classical and contemporary roles, she earned numerous accolades including the record five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play, three Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, and a BAFTA Award. She was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1979, received the National Medal of Arts in 1994, the Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award, and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2005.
Maurice Bernard Sendak was an American author and illustrator of children's books. His book Where the Wild Things Are was first published in 1963. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Sendak wrote books including In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, and illustrated many works by other authors such as the Little Bear books by Else Holmelund Minarik.
The Chronicles of Prydain is a pentalogy of children's high fantasy Bildungsroman novels written by American author Lloyd Alexander and published by Henry Holt and Company. The series includes: The Book of Three (1964), The Black Cauldron (1965), The Castle of Llyr (1966), Taran Wanderer (1967), and The High King (1968). The Black Cauldron earned a 1966 Newbery Honor, and The High King won the 1969 Newbery Medal.
Holes is a 1998 young adult novel written by Louis Sachar and first published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book centers on Stanley Yelnats, who is sent to Camp Green Lake, a correctional boot camp in a desert in Texas, after being falsely accused of theft. The plot explores the history of the area and how the actions of several characters in the past have affected Stanley's life in the present. These interconnecting stories touch on themes such as labor, boyhood and masculinity, friendship, meaning of names, illiteracy, elements of fairy tales, and racism.
Pamelyn Wanda Ferdin is an American animal rights activist and former actress. Ferdin's acting career was primarily during the 1960s and 1970s, though she appeared in projects sporadically in the 1980s and later years. She began her acting career in television commercials, made 250 television shows and films and gained renown for her work as a voice actress supplying the voice of Lucy Van Pelt in A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969), as well as in two other Peanuts television specials.
Garth Montgomery Williams was an American artist who came to prominence in the American postwar era as an illustrator of children's books. Many of the books he illustrated have become classics of American children's literature.
In Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and in the Little House series of books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Williams['s] drawings have become inseparable from how we think of those stories. In that respect ... Williams['s] work belongs in the same class as Sir John Tenniel's drawings for Alice in Wonderland, or Ernest Shepard's illustrations for Winnie the Pooh.
Willis John Gertsch was an American arachnologist. He described over 1,000 species of spiders, scorpions, and other arachnids, including the Brown recluse spider and the Tooth cave spider.
Charlotte's Web is a 2006 fantasy film based on the 1952 novel by E. B. White. Directed by Gary Winick and written by Susannah Grant and Karey Kirkpatrick, it is the second film adaptation of E. B. White's book, and live-action/CGI remake of Paramount's 1973 animated feature film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The film stars Dakota Fanning, Kevin Anderson, and Beau Bridges, with voices provided by Dominic Scott Kay, Julia Roberts, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Thomas Haden Church, André Benjamin, Cedric the Entertainer, Kathy Bates, Reba McEntire, Robert Redford, and Sam Shepard as the narrator. Danny Elfman composed the film's score.
The Hall–Mills murder case involved Edward Wheeler Hall, an Episcopal priest, and Eleanor Mills, a member of his choir with whom he was having an affair, both of whom were murdered on September 14, 1922, in Somerset, New Jersey, United States. Hall's wife and her brothers were accused of committing the murders, but were acquitted in a 1926 trial. In the history of journalism, the case is largely remembered for the vast extent of newspaper coverage it received nationwide; it has been regarded as an example of a media circus. It would take the Lindbergh kidnapping trial in the 1930s to eclipse the high profile of the Hall-Mills case.
Charlotte's Web is a 1973 American animated musical drama film based on the 1952 book of the same name by E. B. White. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Like the book, it centers on a pig named Wilbur who befriends an intelligent spider named Charlotte who saves him from being slaughtered.
Throughout history, spiders have been depicted in popular culture, mythology and in symbolism. From Greek mythology to African folklore, the spider has been used to represent a variety of things, and endures into the present day with characters such as Shelob from The Lord of the Rings and Spider-Man from the eponymous comic series. It is also a symbol of mischief and malice for its toxic venom and the slow death it causes, which is often seen as a curse. In addition, the spider has inspired creations from an ancient geoglyph to a modern steampunk spectacle. Spiders have been the focus of fears, stories and mythologies of various cultures for centuries.
Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure is a 2003 American animated direct-to-video musical adventure film. The sequel to the 1973 film Charlotte's Web, the film is a co-production between Universal Home Entertainment Productions and Paramount Pictures Corporation, with Nickelodeon Animation Studio handling production services, and Paramount Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Video respectively handling North American and overseas distribution.
The barn spider is a common orb-weaver spider native to North America. They are around three-quarters of an inch (20 mm) in length and are usually yellow and brown in color. They often construct their webs in wooden human structures, hence their common name. The species is notable for being the basis for the character Charlotte in the book Charlotte's Web by American writer E. B. White.
Charlotte's Web is a stage musical with music and lyrics by Charles Strouse and based on a book by Joseph Robinette.
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Melissa, previously published as George until April 2022, is a children's novel about a young transgender girl written by American author Alex Gino. The novel tells the story of Melissa, a fourth-grade girl who is struggling to be herself to the rest of the world. The rest of the world sees Melissa as George, a boy. Melissa uses the class play, Charlotte's Web, to show her mom that she is a girl by switching roles with her best friend, and playing the part of Charlotte. Scholastic first published the novel on August 25, 2015, and it has had a mixed reaction because of its LGBT+ content. In 2021, Gino retitled the novel Melissa.
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library is a 2017 film by Nickelodeon that is based on the New York Times Best Selling Book by Chris Grabenstein's 2013 book of the same name. The film, was directed by Scott McAboy and produced by Amy Sydorick, starring Casey Simpson, Breanna Yde, Klarke Pipkin, A.J. Louis Rivera Jr., Ty Nicolas Consiglio, Katey Hoffman, and Russell Roberts.
References
↑ Neto, Bill (April 19, 2021). "Fiction Genres". eBooks Discounts. Archived from the original on 2021-04-19. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
↑ Piluso, Mario (2003-03-18), Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure (Animation, Adventure, Family), Julia Duffy, David Berón, Charlie Adler, Paramount Pictures, Universal Animation Studios, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, retrieved 2024-06-30
↑ Gagnon, Laurence (1973). "Webs of Concern: The Little Prince and Charlotte's Web". Children's Literature. 2 (2): 64. doi:10.1353/chl.0.0419. S2CID144139864.
↑ Thomas, Trudelle H. (2016). "The Arc of the Rope Swing: Humour, Poetry, and Spirituality in Charlotte's Web by E.B. White". International Journal of Children's Spirituality. 21 (3–4): 201–215. doi:10.1080/1364436X.2016.1228618. S2CID151314127.
1 2 3 Jordan, Anne Devereaux (1997). "Appreciating 'Charlotte's Web'". Teaching and Learning Literature with Children and Young Adults. 7.
↑ Misheff, Sue (1998). "Beneath the Web and Over the Stream: The Search for Safe Places in Charlotte's Web and Bridge to Terabithia". Children's Literature in Education. 29 (3): 131–141. doi:10.1023/A:1022471421284. S2CID159809077.
↑ Scully, Matthew (June 2011). "Tangled Web; A Children's Classic, and the Moral Dimensions of Animal Farming. (The Story of Charlotte's Web: E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic)". The Weekly Standard. 16.
White, E. B. (2008). Wilbur's adventure: a Charlotte's web picture book. Illustrated by Maggie Kneen. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN9780060781644.
Sims, Michael (2011). The story of Charlotte's web: E. B. White's eccentric life in nature and the birth of an American classic. New York: Walker & Co. ISBN9780802777546.
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