Background about the Book – Charlotte’s Web
Charlotte's Web—the best-selling children's paperback of all time—was described by its author as "a story of friendship and salvation on a farm." If you've already read the book, you know about the friendship that grows between Wilbur, a runty pig, and Charlotte, a heroic spider. But you may not know that the book's author, E. B. White, was himself a friend to animals. White researched every detail that went into his three books for children: Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970). For Charlotte's Web the research was close to home—at White's own farm in Maine. As a result, the barnyard of Charlotte's Web seems real in every detail, and so do the habits of its animals. Despite Charlotte's sophisticated vocabulary, she is still a spider who traps flies in her web and sucks their blood. Likewise, though Wilbur expresses deep emotions, he is still a pig who likes to lie in the mud and breathe in the warm smell of manure. From: FactMonster.com
About the Author
Born: July 11, 1899 Mount Vernon, New York
E. B. White, the author of such beloved children's classics as Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan, was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He graduated from Cornell University in 1921 and, five or six years later, joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine. E.B. White authored over seventeen books of prose and poetry and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1973. In addition to writing children's books, E. B. White also wrote books for adults, as well as writing poems and essays, and drawing sketches for The New Yorker magazine. Some of his other books include: One Man's Meat, The Second Tree from the Corner, Letters of E. B. White, The Essays of E. B. White, and Poems and Sketches of E. B. White.
Funnily enough for such a famous writer, he always said that he found writing difficult and bad for one's disposition but he kept at it!
Mr. White has won countless awards, including the 1971 National Medal for Literature and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, which commended him for making “a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”
He died on October 1, 1985, and is survived by his son and three grandchildren. During his lifetime, many young readers asked Mr. White if his stories were true. In a letter written to be sent to his fans, he answered, “No, they are imaginary tales… But real life is only one kind of life — there is also the life of the imagination.”
Mr. White lived on a farm in Maine where he kept animals, and some of these creatures made their way into his stories and books, like Stuart in Stuart Little, or Charlotte in Charlotte's Web. After all, as E.B. White said, “I like animals, and my barn is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours!”
“Many years ago,” E.B. White would say, “I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That's how the story of Stuart Little got started.”
How did E. B. White think up the story for Charlotte's Web? “I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm.”
From: Scholastic.com
Reviews – Charlotte’s Web
"Life in the Barn Was Very Good," in The New York Times Book Review, October 19, 1952, p. 49.
[in the following excerpt, Welty favorably reviews E. B. White's Charlotte's Web. ]
[Charlotte's Web] has liveliness and felicity, tenderness and unexpectedness, grace and humor and praise of life, and the good backbone of succinctness that only the most highly imaginative stories seem to grow.
The characters are varied—good and bad, human and animal, talented and untalented, warm and cold, ignorant and intelligent, vegetarian and blood-drinking—varied but not simple or opposites. They are the real thing.
Wilbur is of a sweet nature—he is a spring pig—affectionate, responsive to moods of the weather and the song of the crickets, has long eyelashes, is hopeful, partially willing to try anything, brave, subject to faints from bashfulness, is loyal to friends, enjoys a good appetite and
a soft bed, and is a little likely to be overwhelmed by the sudden chance for complete freedom.... [He] is the hero.
Charlotte A. Cavitica ("but just call me Charlotte") is the heroine, a large gray spider "about the size of a gumdrop." She has eight legs and can wave them in friendly greeting. When her friends wake up in the morning she says "Salutations!"—in spite of sometimes having been up all night herself, working. She tells Wilbur right away that she drinks blood, and Wilbur on first acquaintance begs her not to say that.
Another good character is Templeton, the rat. "The rat had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything." "Talking with Templeton was not the most interesting occupation in the world," Wilbur finds, "but it was better than nothing." Templeton grudges his help to others, then brags about it, can fold his hands behind his head, and sometimes acts like a spoiled child....
What the book is about is friendship on earth, affection and protection, adventure and miracle, life and death, trust and treachery, pleasure and pain, and the passing of time. As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done. What it all proves—in the words of the minister in the story which he hands down to his congregation after Charlotte writes "Some Pig" in her web—is "that human beings must always be on the watch for the coming of wonders." Dr. Dorian says in another place, "Oh, no, I don't understand it. But for that matter I don't understand how a spider learned to spin a web in the first place. When the words appeared, everyone said they were a miracle. But nobody pointed out that the web itself is a miracle." The author will only say, "Charlotte was in a class by herself." ... Charlotte's Web is an adorable book.
From: DISCovering Authors. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Gale.
Letter from E.B. White
This is the letter that Mr. White wrote before his death about his three books for children:
Dear Reader:
I receive many letters from children and can't answer them all -- there wouldn't be time enough in a day. That is why I am sending you this printed reply to your letter. I'll try to answer some of the questions that are commonly asked.
Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little and for Charlotte's Web? Well, many years ago I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That's how the story of Stuart Little got started.
As for Charlotte's Web, I like animals and my barn is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours. One day when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was doomed to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save a pig's life. I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm. Three years after I started writing it, it was published. (I am not a fast worker, as you can see.)
Sometimes I'm asked how old I was when I started to write, and what made me want to write. I started early -- as soon as I could spell. In fact, I can't remember any time in my life when I wasn't busy writing. I don't know what caused me to do it, or why I enjoyed it, but I think children often find pleasure and satisfaction is trying to set their thoughts down on paper, either in words or in pictures. I was no good at drawing, so I used words instead. As I grew older, I found that writing can be a way of earning a living.
Some of my readers want me to visit their school. Some want me to send a picture, or an autograph, or a book. And some ask questions about my family and my animals and my pets. Much as I'd like to, I can't go visiting. I can't send books, either -- you can find them in a bookstore or a library. Many children assume that a writer owns (or even makes) his own books. This is not true -- books are made by the publisher. If a writer wants a copy, he must buy it. That's why I can't send books. And I do not send autographs -- I leave that to the movie stars. I live most of the year in the country, in New England. From our windows we can look out at the sea and the mountains. I live near my married son and three grandchildren.
Are my stories true, you ask? No, they are imaginary tales, containing fantastic characters and events. In real life, a family doesn't have a child who looks like a mouse; in real life, a spider doesn't spin words in her web. In real life, a swan doesn't blow a trumpet. But real life is only one kind of life -- there is also the life of the imagination. And although my stories are imaginary, I like to think that there is some truth in them, too -- truth about the way people and animals feel and think and act.
Yours sincerely,
E.B. White
Read Alikes – Charlotte’s Web
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Call of the Wild by Jack London
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Poppy by Avi
Discussion Questions: Charlotte’s Web
1. In what ways does White adapt the animals’ fictional personalities to the way those animals act in real life?
2. The threat of death is a very serious part of everyone’s life. Is it surprising to find that threat central to such a charming story as this?
3. When the message “some pig” appears in Charlotte’s web, everyone except Mrs. Zuckerman is immediately impressed with Wilbur, not Charlotte. What might White be trying to say about human nature?
4. Think about the words Charlotte chooses to write in her web. What are the reasons she gives for choosing those words? Why are they particularly appropriate for Wilbur?
5. What do you think about the doctor’s lack of concern over Fern’s apparent delusions about animals and spiders talking?
6. A fable is a simple narrative in which talking animals are used to represent human characteristics. Usually, the fable ends with an explicit moral, or lesson. What moral, or morals, might be drawn from Charlotte’s Web?
7. Part of White’s reason for writing this novel was his own sense of the unfairness of raising an animal simply to kill it for food later. How does that basic sense of barnyard injustice help you to understand the book?
8. Is Templeton the rat a hero or a villain in the story? Why?
9. Have you ever had a really close friendship with an animal? What makes someone a good friend?
10. In the early drafts of Charlotte’s Web, Fern and the other humans played a much smaller role. In fact, the book began with Wilbur already living in Zuckerman’s barn, and Fern did not appear until several chapters had passed. Why did White decide to begin the book with Fern’s saving Wilbur from her father’s ax? What is Fern’s role in the story?
From: enotes.com and Scholastic.com
GENERAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
The following questions can be applied to any book. You can tweak the questions for your specific book. They can be cut into strips and passed around in a basket to help facilitate discussion.
My favorite part of the book was…
A better title for this book would be…because…
(Name of character) reminds me of myself because…
My least favorite character was…because…
If I were (name of character, ------) I would (wouldn’t ) have…
(Name of character) reminds me of someone I know because…
I changed my mind about…because…
I would (wouldn’t) like to read another book by this author because…
This book made me think…When I finished this book, I still wondered…
This book reminded me of…
I’d like to tell the author…
What happened in this book was very realistic (unrealistic) because…
This book was better (worse) than the movie version because…
When I started reading his book, I thought…
I didn’t like…because…
This book made me realize…
If I could talk to (name of character), I would say…
One thing I have noticed about the author’s style is…
If I could be any character in the book I would be…because…
I was surprised when…
I think the main thing the writer was trying to say was…
The most important thing about this book is…
I predicted that…
I think the writer must be …because…
I would change the ending…