Charlotte's Web by E.B. White - Book Review

Charlotte’s Web by EB White Book Review

So, what is this beloved classic children’s book, Charlotte’s Web, about anyway? Why is it so well known? The answer is probably because it is so memorable. Charlotte’s Web is an interesting and intriguing children’s book that holds the attention of children that read the story or listen to the story being read to them. Your child might find this children’s book to be quite captivating.

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Charlotte’s Web - Chapter 1

Charlotte’s Web is the story of a little girl named Fern and her pet pig Wilbur. How did she come to get a pet pig? Her parents lived on a farm and on an occasion when a litter of pigs was born, Wilbur the pig was very tiny among them, the “runt” of the litter. Fern’s father sold Wibur’s ten brothers and sisters. Because Wilbur was such a small little runt, Fern’s father had plans to kill Wibur! Fern cried and begged and pleaded and protested until her father agreed to allow her to keep Wilbur as a pet.

• Fern was elated and treated Wilbur well as she brought him up to a proper weight.
• She even gave him bottles of milk like a human baby would have.
• Eventually, as Wilbur grew, Fern’s father again expressed the need to give Wilbur up, this time in a different way, by selling him.
• Fern’s father lectured her about how she had her fun raising a pet baby pig but the pig was not a baby anymore and the amount of food that he would consume if kept as a pet was too much for Fern’s father to provide, in his opinion.
• Fern was distraught again but helped her father in finding a buyer for Wilbur.

When a buyer was found, Wilbur was sold to a neighboring farm for just $6. Fern was allowed to go visit Wilbur there and sit outside of his pen. Fern enjoyed keeping Wilbur company in this way and quietly sitting there gathering her thoughts. In Charlotte’s Web the book, it is discussed that since she was quiet and friendly, many of the other animals at the farm came to trust her. Sitting outside of Wilbur’s pen, Fern sat among the sheep and geese for example.

Charlotte’s Web - Chapter 2

One day, when Fern was not around, Wilbur was enticed to “escape” from his pen. He was coaxed to do so by one of the geese. The animals of various species had the ability to communicate with each other and “talk” to each other. Wilbur had been becoming quite saddened in his circumstances, lamenting that is this all there is? His pen and the little yard right outside of his pen? He was sad and bored. A fast talking goose let him know that one of the boards in the fence of Wilbur’s pen was loose and he could get right out if he wanted to. He could jump and dance and run and go exploring. He could go to the woods if he wanted to. Eventually, Wilbur was convinced enough to go ahead and give it a try. His escape was quite the adventure as he ran about and had other animals cheering him on. He ended up confused as so many different animals were shouting out to him with suggestions about what he should do next. What should be his next move as the farmers got word about his escape and tried to round him up. Eventually, Wilbur was exhausted and hungry and readily lured back into his pen with scraps of food from the farmers. The goose tried to protest that Wilbur should not go back into the pen. The goose encouraged Wilbur to keep his “freedom” but at that point, Wilbur was ready to ignore everything that the goose was saying.

This chapter of Charlotte’s Web is quite funny and entertaining with detailed drawings illustrating the chaos and adventure of Wilbur’s escape and eventual return to his pen. The artistry in this classic children’s book is excellent and beautiful. The illustrations are done skillfully and with great talent.

If you read this book aloud to young listening children and show them the illustrations, they might laugh out loud at all of the antics that occur in this chapter of the story and giggle at the hilarious things that the goose says to Wilbur the pig. It’s an uplifting turn from how Wilbur almost lost his life in Chapter 1 of the story.

Yes, reading a good book can be just as entertaining as watching a movie.

In the book Charlotte’s Web, a lot of descriptive words are used to discuss the action. The literature is detailed and interesting.

In the next couple of chapters of Charlotte’s Web, Wilbur the pig struggles with feelings of “loneliness”. He plans out his whole schedule that includes lots of eating, napping and playing but then he encounters a very rainy day. He knows that Fern will not come to visit him in that type of weather and he implores some of the other animals such as Templeton the rat and a lamb to play with him.

Templeton the rat says that he does not even know the meaning of the word “play”. He would much rather “spy” for example and the lamb happens to be exceptionally rude and unwilling to play. The lamb’s standards are apparently too high to play with a pig and to the lamb a pig “means less than nothing”. So rude! Wilbur the pig is just so sad and tearful.

As Wilbur is about ready to give up on finding a play partner for the day, he hears a voice from above him saying that she has been watching him all day and she likes him. She will be his friend and “play” with him or talk to him and keep him company. This occurs at the end of Chapter 4 of the book Charlotte’s Web.

It turns out that the voice from above is a spider in its web, Charlotte. While the book title is named Charlotte’s Web, we the readers of the book Charlotte’s Web are not fully introduced to the spider named Charlotte until the start of Chapter 5. At the end of Chapter 4, the source of the voice that Wilbur the pig hears coming from above him is still a mystery.

We might then think of the ‘fly on the wall’ analogy. This spider in its web is able to declare that she has been observant of Wilbur the pig and has been watching him all day!

The story of Charlotte's Web continues on with adventure and lessons about frienship and loyalty. This book is about 184 pages long and you can read it to/with your young children, across several days of reading in small amounts. It is a very enjoyable book for both the child and the grown up teaching the child to read or improve in reading.