Scan barcode
A review by rereader33
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
3.0
2023 April Reading Challenge
Prompt: read a banned book
For those of you unaware, "Charlotte's Web" has been challenged/banned in many school districts because "it is blasphemous for animals to talk--only humans should talk, and the discussion of death." Which is easily one of the dumbest things I've heard in a long time, but then again so are all the other reasons why people want to ban books.
And if anyone tries to defend this in the comment section, let me make a couple of things clear:
-There is nothing you can say that will convince me that this or any other book should be banned, no matter the subject matter or the contents on the page.
-Censorship is a ridiculous and unbeneficial act, it exists purely for people to exert power over others, not because they actual care about content that is in the text, and wanting something banned demonstrates that you are a childish individual who will throw a temper tantrum because other people shouldn't be allowed to read something you personally dislike.
-Please, for the love of God, find something real to care about. There are hundreds of actually important issues going on in the world (war, famine, drought, wild fires, murder, etc.) Banning a book because you don't like the fact that is has talking animals in it and/or discusses death is *NOT* an important issue. I repeat, PLEASE. FIND. SOMETHING. REAL. TO CARE. ABOUT.
With that out of the way, onto the review.
Believe it or not, I never had to read this book for school. Yes, at the tender age of thirty-one, I am finally reading this book. And it was okay.
There were some things that I liked, specifically Charlotte and Fern, as well as some of the discussions on worth and friendship. But the biggest problem I had with this book were the other characters. While I understand that Wilbur was (probably) meant to act as a child, since Charlotte seemed like a mother-figure, but Wilbur was really grating for most of the book. He was either crying, yelling, or whining, and yes I understand that children do these things, but it becomes obnoxious really fast. Templeton was a jerk the entire book and while I get that White was trying to show how the other characters kind of exploited him, he was such a foul character that I felt no sympathy or empathy for him. As for the other characters, they just kind of existed.
Overall, I think this was a solid read and is deserving of its place as a classic even if I didn't like it as much as everyone else. That's about all I have to say, this was a good book.
Prompt: read a banned book
For those of you unaware, "Charlotte's Web" has been challenged/banned in many school districts because "it is blasphemous for animals to talk--only humans should talk, and the discussion of death." Which is easily one of the dumbest things I've heard in a long time, but then again so are all the other reasons why people want to ban books.
And if anyone tries to defend this in the comment section, let me make a couple of things clear:
-There is nothing you can say that will convince me that this or any other book should be banned, no matter the subject matter or the contents on the page.
-Censorship is a ridiculous and unbeneficial act, it exists purely for people to exert power over others, not because they actual care about content that is in the text, and wanting something banned demonstrates that you are a childish individual who will throw a temper tantrum because other people shouldn't be allowed to read something you personally dislike.
-Please, for the love of God, find something real to care about. There are hundreds of actually important issues going on in the world (war, famine, drought, wild fires, murder, etc.) Banning a book because you don't like the fact that is has talking animals in it and/or discusses death is *NOT* an important issue. I repeat, PLEASE. FIND. SOMETHING. REAL. TO CARE. ABOUT.
With that out of the way, onto the review.
Believe it or not, I never had to read this book for school. Yes, at the tender age of thirty-one, I am finally reading this book. And it was okay.
There were some things that I liked, specifically Charlotte and Fern, as well as some of the discussions on worth and friendship. But the biggest problem I had with this book were the other characters. While I understand that Wilbur was (probably) meant to act as a child, since Charlotte seemed like a mother-figure, but Wilbur was really grating for most of the book. He was either crying, yelling, or whining, and yes I understand that children do these things, but it becomes obnoxious really fast. Templeton was a jerk the entire book and while I get that White was trying to show how the other characters kind of exploited him, he was such a foul character that I felt no sympathy or empathy for him. As for the other characters, they just kind of existed.
Overall, I think this was a solid read and is deserving of its place as a classic even if I didn't like it as much as everyone else. That's about all I have to say, this was a good book.