3.84k reviews for:

Charlotte's Web

E.B. White

4.08 AVERAGE


Some pig. This is such a beloved book. Fond memories of my librarian reading this to the class. Discovering that kindness always wins. Hope. Death. Rebirth. I have when people say kids can't understand complex ideas because to this day, Charlotte going out of her way to save her friend is a Powerful life lesson for children.
emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

read for a grad class :) i forgot a lot of the details in this story, so it was nice to revisit it as an adult 

I'm 35 and the ending still makes me cry

Annotation:
A young pig's life is saved by a Charlotte, a wise spider. Through Charlotte, the pig learns important lessons about friendship and loss.

Review:

Perhaps the most striking aspect of E.B. White's 1952 classic Charlotte's Web is abundance of endearing, clearly-drawn characters. White's tale of friendship, altruism and loss rings very true because of how quickly the reader comes to care for and identify with the characters. Despite being written for children, each character has charming and distinct traits and idiosyncracies.
The story is of a young, lonely pig who befriends a wise spider who saves the pig from being slaughtered by weaving kind words about the pig in her web above the pigpen. The themes explored by White, however, are perhaps more important than the plot. Charlotte's Web not only deals with the friendship between the pig and the spider but seriously addresses issues of death, growing up and loneliness in what might be one of a child's initial serious encounters with those ideas. The handling of these serious topics is very powerful, again, because of the closeness the reader feels to the characters as well as the strength of E.B. White's prose. Though the primary audience for this book is children, White is not afraid to throw in the occasional multi-syllabic word or situations that would not be familiar to small children. The book attempts to relate to children but without talking down to them. This is perhaps its greatest success.

lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous challenging funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous hopeful inspiring fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This has held up beautifully and the ending made me weep, much like the first time I read it 40 years ago. My kid loved it and especially liked that E.B. White defines more complex vocabulary words right after using them as a seamless part of the story. The audio full cast is incredible and Meryl Streep's narration was perfect.

"Why did you do all this for me? " he asked. "I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you."

"You have been my friend," replied Charlotte. "That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that."

I just about broke down in tears out in public when I heard this. Over a damn spider and her pig friend.

White is the perfect narrator for his own work. A gentle, earnest, crackling older voice that brings to life a whole barnyard. A barnyard where animals have warm and vibrant personalities, that only a little girl like Fern can really appreciate. The way he read Charlotte made me think of my aunts, ladies filled with patience, love, and keen senses of snarky humor.
"Does anybody here know how to spell 'terrific'?"
"I think," said the gander, "it's tee double ee double rr double rr double eye double ff double eye double see see see see see."
"What kind of an acrobat do you think I am?" said Charlotte in disgust.


The only villain is the facts of life, and it's talked about with sincere honesty. I can't think of any children's book that has the chutzpah to describe, with startling accuracy, how depression looks and feels:
When he tired of this, he walked indoors, climbed to the top of the manure pile, and sat down. He didn't feel like going to sleep, he didn't feel like digging, he was tired of standing still, tired of lying down. "I'm less than two months old and I'm tired of living," he said. He walked out to the yard again.


Which drives home just how wonderful it really is to have the love of a good friend like that damn spider, Charlotte.

This book is a little hard for kids to get through, I read it aloud to my two children and there is too much detail for kids. So much talk about the weather and not enough fun. There was so much more dialogue or fun conversation to be had with the barn yard animals that were created, but it didn’t happen much. Wilbur also was so whiny and such a baby with all the crying and fainting all the time. Charlotte was beautiful and a great character though.