Charlotte's Web
is a
bairns' novelle
bi American author
E. B. White
an illustrated bi
Garth Williams
. It wis published on October 15, 1952, bi
Harper & Brothers
. The novelle tells the story o a
livestock
pig
named Wilbur an his friendship wi a
barn speeder
named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger o bein slaughtered bi the farmer, Charlotte writes messages praisin Wilbur (sic as "Some Pig") in her web in order tae persuade the farmer tae let him live.
Written in White's dry, low-key manner,
Charlotte's Web
is considered a classic o bairns' literatur, enjoyable tae adults as well as bairns. The description o the experience o swingin on a rope swing at the farm is an aften cited example o rhythm in writing, as the pace o the sentences reflects the motion o the swing. In 2000,
Publishers Weekly
listed the beuk as the best-sellin bairns' paperback o aw time.
[1]
Charlotte's Web
wis adapted intae an
animatit featur
bi
Hanna-Barbera Productions
an Sagittarius Productions in 1973. Paramount released a
direct-tae-video
sequel
,
Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure
, in the U.S. in 2003 (Universal released the film internationally). A
live-action film version
o E. B. White's original story wis released in 2006. A
video game based on this adaption
wis an aa released in 2006.
The beuk begins when John Arable's sow gives birth tae a litter o piglets, an Mr. Arable discovers ane o them is a
runt
an decides tae kill it. Houiver, his aicht year old daughter Fern begs him tae let it live. Therefore her father gives it tae Fern as a pet, an she names the piglet Wilbur. Wilbur is hyperactive an always exploring new things. He lives wi Fern for a few weeks an then is sold tae her uncle, Homer Zuckerman. Although Fern visits him at the Zuckermans' farm as aften as she can, her visits decrease as she grows older, an Wilbur gets lonelier day after day. Eventually, a warm an soothin voice tells him that she is going tae be his friend. The next day, he wakes up an meets his new friend: Charlotte, the grey speeder.
Wilbur soon becomes a member o the community o animals that live in the cellar o Zuckerman's barn. When the old sheep in the barn cellar tells Wilbur that he is going tae be killed an eaten at Christmas, he turns tae Charlotte for help. Charlotte has the idea o writin words in her web extollin Wilbur's excellence ("some pig," "terrific," "radiant," an eventually "humble"), reasoning that if she can make Wilbur sufficiently famous, he will not be killed. Thanks tae Charlotte's efforts, an wi the assistance o the gluttonous rat Templeton, Wilbur not only lifes, but goes tae the county fair wi Charlotte an wins a prize. Havin reached the end of her natural lifespan, Charlotte dies at the fair. Wilbur repays Charlotte bi bringing home wi him the sac o eggs (her "
magnum opus
") she had laid at the fair before dying. When Charlotte's eggs hatch at Zuckerman's farm, most o them leave tae make their own lifes elsewhere, except for three: Joy, Aranea, an Nellie, who remain there as friends tae Wilbur; but none o them can replace Charlotte.
- Wilbur
is a rambunctious
pig
, the
runt
o his
litter
. He is aften strongly emotional.
- Charlotte A. Cavatica
, or simply Charlotte, is a
speeder
that befriends Wilbur. In some passages, she is the
heroine
o the story.
[2]
- John Arable
is Wilbur's first owner.
- Fern Arable
is John's daughter, who adopts Wilbur when he is a piglet, an later visits him. She is the only human in the story capable o understanding animal conversation.
- Templeton
is a
rat
that helps Charlotte an Wilbur only when offered food. He serves as a somewhat caustic, self-serving
comic relief
tae the plot.
- Avery Arable
is the elder brother o Fern an John's son. Like Templeton, he is a source o comic relief.
- Homer Zuckerman
is Fern's uncle who keeps Wilbur in his barn. He has a wife, Edith, an an assistant named Lurvy.
- Other animals
in Zuckerman's barn, wi whom Wilbur converses, are a disdainful lamb, a talkative goose, an an intelligent "old
sheep
".
- Henry Fussy
is a boy o Fern's age, o whom Fern becomes fond.
- Dr. Dorian
is the family physician/psychologist consulted bi Fern's mother an somethin o a
wise old man
chairacter.
- Uncle
is a large pig that Charlotte disdains for coarse manners. He is Wilbur's rival at the fair.
- Charlotte's children
are the 514 children o Charlotte. Although they were born at the barn, all but three o them go their own ways bi
balloonin
.
Death
is a major theme seen throughout
Charlotte's Web
an is brought forth bi that o the
speeder
, Charlotte's,
web
. Accordin tae Norton D. Kinghorn, Charlotte's web acts as a barrier that separates two worlds. These worlds are that o life an death.
[3]
Scholar Amy Ratelle says that through Charlotte's continual killin an eatin o
flies
throughout the novel, White makes the concept o death normal for Wilbur an for the readers.
[4]
Wilbur constantly has death on his mind at night when he is worryin over whether or not he will be made intae
meat
for humans tae consume, but as scholar Sophie Mills notes, Wilbur is able tae avoid death.
[5]
Even though Wilbur is able tae escape his death, Charlotte, the speeder that takes care of Wilbur, is not able tae escape her own death. Charlotte passes away, but accordin tae Trudelle H. Thomas, "Yet even in the face of death, life continues and ultimate goodness wins out".
[6]
Jordan Anne Deveraux explains that E. B. White discusses a few
realities
o death. From the novel, readers learn that death can be delayed, but it cannot be avoided forever.
[7]
For Norton D. Kinghorn, Charlotte's web also acts as a signifier o change. The change Kinghorn refers tae is that o both the human world an the farm/barn world. For both o these worlds change is somethin that cannot be avoided.
[8]
Along wi the changin o the
saisons
throughout the novel, the chairacters also go through their own changes. Jordan Anne Deveraux also explains that Wilbur an Fern each go through their changes tae transition from
childhood
closer tae adulthood throughout the novel.
[9]
This is evidenced bi Wilbur acceptin death an Fern givin up her dolls. Wilbur grows throughout the novel, allowin him tae become the caretaker o Charlotte's children just as she wis a caretaker for him, as is explained bi scholar Sue Misheff.
[10]
But rather than accept the changes that are forced upon them, according tae Sophie Mills, the chairacters aim tae go beyond the limits o change.
[11]
In a different way, Wilbur goes through a change when he switches locations. Amy Ratelle explains that when he moves from Fern's house tae Homer Zuckerman's farm, Wilbur goes from bein a loved pet tae a farm animal.
Fern, the little girl in the novel, goes from bein a child tae being more o an adult. As she goes through this change, Kinghorn notes that it can also be considered a fall from
innocence
.
[12]
Wilbur also starts out young an innocent at the beginnin o the novel. A comparison is drawn between the innocence an youth o Fern an Wilbur. Sophie Mills states that the two chairacters can identify wi ane another.
[13]
Both Wilbur an Fern are, at first, horrified bi the realization that life must end; however, bi the end o the novel, both chairacters learn tae accept that everything must die.
[14]
Accordin tae Matthew Scully, the novel presents the difference in the worldview o adults versus the worldview o children. Children, sic as Fern, believe killin another for food is wrong, while adults have learned tae justify this action.
[15]
Charlotte's Web
wis published three years after White began writing it.
[16]
White's editor Ursula Nordstrom said that ane day in 1952, E. B. White arrived at her office an handed her a new manuscript, the only copy o
Charlotte's Web
then in existence, which she read soon after an enjoyed.
[17]
Since White published
Death of a Pig
in 1948,
[18]
an account o his own failure tae save a sick pig (bought for butchering),
Charlotte's Web
can be seen as White's attempt "tae save his pig in retrospect".
[19]
White's overall motivation for the book has not been revealed an he has written: "I haven't told why I wrote the book, but I haven't told you why I sneeze, either. A book is a sneeze".
[20]
When White met the speeder that originally inspired Charlotte, he called her Charlotte Epeira (after
Epeira sclopetaria
, the Grey Cross speeder, now known as
Larinioides sclopetarius
), before discoverin that the more modern name for that genus wis
Aranea
.
[21]
In the novel, Charlotte gives her full name as "Charlotte A. Cavatica", revealin her as a
barn speeder
, an
orb-weaver
wi the scientific name
Araneus cavaticus
.
The arachnid anatomical terms (mentioned in the beginning o chapter nine) an other information that White used, came mostly from
American Spiders
bi
Willis J. Gertsch
an
The Spider Book
bi
John Henry Comstock
, both o which combine a sense o poetry wi scientific fact.
[22]
White incorporated details from Comstock's accounts o baby speeders, most notably the "flight" o the young speeders on silken parachutes.
[22]
White sent Gertsch's book tae illustrator Garth Williams.
[23]
Williams' initial drawins depicted a speeder wi a woman's face, an White suggested that he simply draw a realistic speeder instead.
[24]
White originally opened the novel wi an introduction o Wilbur an the barnyard (which later became the third chapter) but decided tae begin the novel bi introducin Fern an her family on the first page.
[23]
White's publishers were at ane point concerned wi the book's endin an tried tae get White tae change it.
[25]
Charlotte's Web
has become White's most famous book, but White treasured his privacy an that o the farmyard an barn that helped inspire the novel, which have been kept off limits tae the public according tae his wishes.
[26]
Charlotte's Web
wis generally well-reviewed when it wis released. In
The New York Times
,
Eudora Welty
wrote, "As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done."
[27]
Aside from its paperback sales,
Charlotte's Web
is 78th on the all-time bestselling hardback book list. According tae publicity for the 2006 film adaptation, the book has sold more than 45 million copies an been translated intae 23 languages. It wis a
Newbery Honor
book for 1953, losin tae
Secret of the Andes
bi
Ann Nolan Clark
for the
Newbery Medal
. In 1970, White won the
Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal
, a major prize in the field o children's literature, for
Charlotte's Web
, along wi his first children's book,
Stuart Little
, published in 1945. Seth Lerer, in his book
Children’s Literature
, finds that Charlotte represents female authorship an creativity, an compares her tae other female chairacters in children's literature sic as Jo March in
Little Women
an Mary Lennox in
The Secret Garden
.
[28]
Nancy Larrick brings tae attention the "startling note of realism" in the opening line, "Where's Papa going with that Ax?"
[29]
Illustrator
Henry Cole
expressed his deep childhood appreciation o the chairacters an story, an calls Garth Williams' illustrations full o "sensitivity, warmth, humor, and intelligence."
[30]
Illustrator Diana Cain Bluthenthal states that Williams' illustrations inspired an influenced her.
[31]
There is an unabridged audio book read bi White himself which reappeared decades after it had originally been recorded.
[32]
Newsweek
writes that White reads the story "without artifice and with a mellow charm," and that "White also has a plangency that will make you weep, so don't listen (at least, not to the sad parts) while driving."
[32]
Joe Berk, president o Pathway Sound, had recorded
Charlotte's Web
wi White in White's neighbor's house in Maine (which Berk describes as an especially memorable experience) an released the book in LP.
[33]
Bantam released
Charlotte’s Web
alongside
Stuart Little
on CD in 1991, digitally remastered, havin acquired the two o them for rather a large amount.
[33]
In 2005, a school teacher in California conceived o a project for her class in which they would send out hundreds o drawings o speeders (each representin Charlotte’s child Aranea going out intae the world so that she can return an tell Wilbur o what she has seen) wi accompanyin letters; they ended up visitin a large number o parks, monuments, an museums, an were hosted bi an/or prompted responses from celebrities an politicians sic as
John Travolta
an then-First Lady
Laura Bush
.
[34]
In 2003,
Charlotte's Web
wis listed at number 170 on the BBC's
The Big Read
poll o the UK's 200 "best-loved novels."
[35]
A 2004 study found that
Charlotte's Web
wis a common read-aloud book for third-graders in schools in
San Diego County, California
.
[36]
Based on a 2007 online poll, the
National Education Association
named the book ane o its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children."
[37]
It wis ane o the "Top 100 Chapter Books" o all time in a 2012 poll bi
School Library Journal
.
[38]
Its awards an nominations include:
The book wis adapted intae
an animatit featur o the same name
in 1973 bi
Hanna-Barbera Productions
an Sagittarius Productions wi a score bi the
Sherman Brothers
. In 2003, a
direct-tae-video
sequel tae that film,
Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure
,
wis released bi
Paramount Pictures
. In 2006, Paramount Pictures, wi
Walden Media
, Kerner Entertainment Company, an
Nickelodeon Movies
, produced
a live-action/animatit adaptation
starrin
Dakota Fanning
as Fern an
Julia Roberts
as the voice o Charlotte, released on December 15, 2006.
A musical production wis created wi music an lyrics bi
Charles Strouse
.
A
video game
o the 2006 film wis developed bi
Backbone Entertainment
an published bi
THQ
an
Sega
, an released on December 12, 2006, for the
Game Boy Advance
,
Nintendo DS
,
PlayStation 2
an
PC
.
- ↑
"Private Tutor"
. Factmonster.com
. Retrieved
25 Mey
2014
.
- ↑
"Charlotte A. Cavatica: Bloodthirsty, Wise And True"
.
NPR
. Retrieved
26 September
2010
.
- ↑
Kinghorn, Norton D. (Spring 1986).
"The Real Miracle of Charlotte's Web"
.
Children's Literature Association Quarterly
(in Inglis).
11
(1): 4?9.
doi
:
10.1353/chq.0.0418
.
ISSN
1553-1201
.
- ↑
Ratelle, Amy (2014).
"Ethics and Edibility in Charlotte's Web"
.
The Lion and the Unicorn
(in Inglis).
38
(3): 327?341.
doi
:
10.1353/uni.2014.0026
.
ISSN
1080-6563
.
- ↑
Mills, Sophie (2000).
"Pig in the Middle"
.
Children's Literature in Education
(in Inglis).
31
(2): 107?124.
doi
:
10.1023/A:1005178904342
.
ISSN
0045-6713
.
- ↑
Thomas, Trudelle H. (2016). "The Arc of the Rope Swing: Humour, Poetry, and Spirituality in Charlotte's Web by E.B. White".
International Journal of Children's Spirituality
.
21
: 201?215.
- ↑
Jordan, Anne Devereaux (1997). "Appreciating "Charlotte's Web
"
".
Teaching and Learning Literature with Children and Young Adults
.
7
.
- ↑
Kinghorn, Norton D. (Spring 1986).
"The Real Miracle of Charlotte's Web"
.
Children's Literature Association Quarterly
(in Inglis).
11
(1): 4?9.
doi
:
10.1353/chq.0.0418
.
ISSN
1553-1201
.
- ↑
Jordan, Anne Devereaux (1997). "Appreciating "Charlotte's Web
"
".
Teaching and Learning Literature with Children and Young Adults
.
7
.
- ↑
Misheff, Sue (1998). "Beneath the Web and Over the Stream: The Search for Safe Places in Charlotte's Web and Bridge to Terabithia".
Children's Literature in Education
.
29
.
- ↑
Mills, Sophie (2000).
"Pig in the Middle"
.
Children's Literature in Education
(in Inglis).
31
(2): 107?124.
doi
:
10.1023/A:1005178904342
.
ISSN
0045-6713
.
- ↑
Kinghorn, Norton D. (Spring 1986).
"The Real Miracle of Charlotte's Web"
.
Children's Literature Association Quarterly
(in Inglis).
11
(1): 4?9.
doi
:
10.1353/chq.0.0418
.
ISSN
1553-1201
.
- ↑
Mills, Sophie (2000).
"Pig in the Middle"
.
Children's Literature in Education
(in Inglis).
31
(2): 107?124.
doi
:
10.1023/A:1005178904342
.
ISSN
0045-6713
.
- ↑
Jordan, Anne Devereaux (1997). "Appreciating "Charlotte's Web
"
".
Teaching and Learning Literature with Children and Young Adults
.
7
.
- ↑
Scully, Matthew (Juin 2011). "Tangled Web; A Children's Classic, and the Moral Dimensions of Animal Farming. (The Story of Charlotte's Web: E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic)".
The Weekly Standard
.
16
.
- ↑
White, E. B. (2006).
"Authors & illustrators: E. B. White: AUTHOR NOTE: A Letter from E. B. White"
.
harpercollinschildrens.com
. HarperCollins Publishers
. Retrieved
31 Mey
2009
.
- ↑
Nordstrom, Ursula (12 Mey 1974).
"Stuart, Wilbur, Charlotte: A Tale of Tales"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
22 December
2008
.
- ↑
White, E.B. (Januar 1948).
"Death of a Pig"
.
The Atlantic
. Retrieved
30 August
2011
.
- ↑
Weales, Gerald (24 Mey 1970).
"The Designs of E. B. White"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
22 December
2008
.
- ↑
Usher, Shaun.
"A book is a sneeze"
.
Letters of Note
. Archived frae
the original
on 17 September 2018
. Retrieved
6 August
2013
.
- ↑
Elledge, Scott (1984).
E. B. White: A Biography
. W. W. Norton and Company.
ISBN
0-393-01771-0
.
- ↑
a
b
Neumeyer, Peter F. (1991). "Charlotte, Arachnida: The Scientific Sources".
The Lion and the Unicorn
.
19
(2): 223?231.
doi
:
10.1353/uni.1995.0034
.
ISSN
0147-2593
.
- ↑
a
b
Elledge (1984), p. 295.
- ↑
White, E.B.; Dorothy Lobrano Guth (ed.) (1976).
Letters of E.B. White
. Harper and Row. pp.
353
?354.
ISBN
0-06-014601-X
.
CS1 maint: extra text: authors leet (
link
)
- ↑
White (1976), p. 351.
- ↑
Garfield, Henry (Mey 2007).
"E.B. White's Web"
. Bangor-Metro. Archived frae
the original
on 13 Januar 2009
. Retrieved
17 Juin
2009
.
- ↑
Garfield, Henry (19 October 1952).
"E.B. White's Web"
. The New York Times
. Retrieved
17 Juin
2009
.
- ↑
Lerer, Seth (2008).
Children's Literature
. University of Chicago Press. pp.
249
?251.
ISBN
0-226-47300-7
.
- ↑
Larrick, Nancy (1982).
A Parent's Guide to Children's Reading
(Fifth ed.). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Westminster Press. p.
67
.
ISBN
0-664-32705-2
.
- ↑
Cole, Henry (2005).
The Art of Reading: Forty Illustrators Celebrate RIF's 40th Anniversary
. Compiled by Reading Is Fundamental. Dutton Books. p.
33
.
ISBN
0-525-47484-6
.
- ↑
Bluthenthal, Diana Cain (2005).
The Art of Reading: Forty Illustrators Celebrate RIF's 40th Anniversary
. Compiled by Reading Is Fundamental. Dutton Books. p.
30
.
ISBN
0-525-47484-6
.
- ↑
a
b
Ames, Katrine; Marc Peyser (9 December 1991). "For Little Pitchers With Big Ears".
Newsweek
. New York (24): 79.
ISSN
0028-9604
.
- ↑
a
b
Schnol, Janet; Joanne Tangorra (18 October 1991).
"Bantam Releases CD/Cassette of E. B. White Titles"
.
Publishers Weekly
.
238
(46): 32.
ISSN
0000-0019
.
- ↑
"Worldly Web: A traveling spider teaches fourth graders the joys of reading, meeting new people, and experiencing new adventures"
. Readers Digest. 13 Juin 2007
. Retrieved
13 November
2012
.
[
deid airtin
]
- ↑
"
"
BBC ? The Big Read
"
"
. BBC. Apryle 2003
. Retrieved
28 August
2017
.
- ↑
Fisher, Douglas; et al. (2004).
"Interactive Read-Alouds: Is There a Common Set of Implementation Practices?"
(PDF)
.
The Reading Teacher
.
58
(1): 8¬?17.
doi
:
10.1598/rt.58.1.1
. Archived frae
the original
(PDF)
on 7 December 2013
. Retrieved
19 August
2012
.
- ↑
National Education Association (2007).
"Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children"
. Archived frae
the original
on 7 Julie 2015
. Retrieved
19 August
2012
.
- ↑
Elizabeth Bird (7 Julie 2012).
"Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results"
.
School Library Journal
"A Fuse #8 Production" blog. Archived frae
the original
on 1 November 2012
. Retrieved
19 August
2012
.
- ↑
Newbery Medal Home Page
,
American Library Association
- ↑
Book awards: A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book
- ↑
"Children's awards"
. Archived frae
Massachusetts the original
on 8 Februar 2009.
Template:Charlotte's Web
Template:Pigs