Reviews - Charlotte's Web | The StoryGraph

3.84k reviews for:

Charlotte's Web

E.B. White

4.08 AVERAGE

robertsonamandamarie93's review against another edition

3.75

Read again as an adult and noticed it perpetuated some gender stereotypes, but overall the story is a good kid's classic.

jenn_bookstitcher's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

rdrift_reads's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Deservedly a classic. Beautiful prose. A simple but incredibly wise, soothing, and joyful story about growing up, about friendship, about change, and about death.

Also Wilbur is the cutest silliest little pig in existence. And I've never been so fond of a spider and a rat.

If I have a child, I would be so happy to read this to them.

catonb's review against another edition

4.5

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

celia_thebookishhufflepuff's review against another edition

5.0

I honestly don't know why I haven't reread this since I was in... (checks calendar, does the math)... first or second grade most likely. I don't even remember rereading it when my sibling was old enough to first read it, even though I have their old copy now for my future classroom. But even though I was reading it to see how it holds up today (more about that on my Goodreads account for children's books), I was incredibly happy to come back to this reread for myself as well.

Simply put, this was fun and heartwarming. I wish animal POV books were more common in YA and adult literature (fully animal, not shifters) because these books do give a wholly different perspective on the way we see the world. I'm impressed by the way [a:E.B. White|988142|E.B. White|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1198519412p2/988142.jpg] can make the dialogue and prose so realistic to how we might commonly imagine these animals. I also love that in this story, each of the main animals and other characters has a place. While most of the book is in Wilbur's POV, there are a lot in other perspectives as well, and having all of them creates a sense of community that is difficult to develop in many genres for all ages. I love the different levels of relationships and friendships that are developed here.

As a future teacher, I also love all the quips about childhood and our relationship to nature when we're young versus when we grow up. I can guarantee that when I read this as a child I wasn't paying much attention to Fern because Wilbur, Charlotte, and Templeton were so much more exciting. Clearly, the animals take the spotlight, but Fern has a distinct story that older readers can appreciate as well. I appreciate the doctor's opinion that children understand quite a bit more about the natural world, and his claim that “It is quite possible that an animal has spoken to me and that I didn't catch the remark because I wasn't paying attention.” I feel that this is incredibly validating, especially knowing young children and the ways they see things differently. I love reading books where this is acknowledged because it means that there have been authors who acknowledged these things throughout time.

I will definitely be holding on to [b:Charlotte's Web|24178|Charlotte's Web|E.B. White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1628267712l/24178._SY75_.jpg|987048] for my future classroom and for my own enjoyment, and would find it a lot of fun to use this as a read-aloud book for first or second grade.