Charlotte's Web by E. B. White Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Charlotte's Web
Book Review: My "Charlotte's Web" Review
Summary: 5 Stars
"Charlotte's Web" is a book all ages can enjoy.I really liked the story because it teaches friendship.The begining of the story is believable but in the end it is like a fairy tale. I liked the characher Charlotte the best because she was kind and wise.The ending is bitter sweet. Lauryn L.Book Review: My three year old's favorite novel.
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Book Review: My very first book. Made me want to read even more. A classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
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.Book Review: One of the Greats
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read this classic to my kids (and to myself, decades ago), and two of my daughters have read it too.
My 10-year old says that she find it believeable, even with the talking animals. By that, I think that she appreciates the humanization of the animal characters. This is a story, tenderly told, about life and death, friendship, selfishness and generosity, and generally what it means to live among others. Read it with your kids.
Book Review: One of the best children's books!
Summary: 5 Stars
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!!"