Charlotte’s Web

This article is about the book. For other uses, see sages. There, Charlotte spins an egg sac containing her
Charlotte’s Web (disambiguation). unborn offspring, and Wilbur, despite winning no prizes,
is later celebrated by the fair’s staff and visitors (thus
Charlotte’s Web is a children’s novel by American author made too prestigious alive to justify killing him). Ex-
hausted apparently by laying eggs, Charlotte remains at
E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams; it was pub-
lished in October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers. The the fair and dies shortly after Wilbur’s departure. Hav-
ing returned to Zuckerman’s farm, Wilbur guards Char-
novel tells the story of a pig named Wilbur and his friend-
ship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur lotte’s egg sac, and is saddened further when the new spi-
is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte ders depart shortly after hatching. The three smallest re-
writes messages praising Wilbur (such as “Some Pig”) in main, however. Pleased at finding new friends, Wilbur
her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live. names the spiderlings Joy, Nellie, and Aranea, and the
book concludes by mentioning that more generations of
Written in White’s dry, low-key manner, Charlotte’s Web spiders kept him company in subsequent years.
is considered a classic of children’s literature, enjoyable
to adults as well as children. The description of the ex-
perience of swinging on a rope swing at the farm is an 2 Characters
often cited example of rhythm in writing, as the pace of
the sentences reflects the motion of the swing. In 2000,
• Wilbur is a rambunctious pig, the runt of his litter.
Publishers Weekly listed the book as the best-selling chil-
[1] He is often strongly emotional.
dren’s paperback of all time.
• Charlotte A. Cavatica, or simply Charlotte, is a
Charlotte’s Web was adapted into an animated feature by
spider who befriends Wilbur. In some passages she
Hanna-Barbera Productions and Sagittarius Productions
is the heroine of the story.[2]
in 1973. Paramount released a direct-to-video sequel,
Charlotte’s Web 2: Wilbur’s Great Adventure, in the U.S. • John Arable: Wilbur’s first owner.
in 2003 (Universal released the film internationally). A
live-action film version of E. B. White’s original story was • Fern Arable, John’s daughter, who adopts Wilbur
released in 2006. A video game based on this adaption in his infancy, and later visits him. She is the only
was also released in 2006. human in the story capable of understanding nonhu-
man conversation.
• Templeton is a rat who helps Charlotte and Wilbur
only when offered food. He serves as a somewhat
1 Plot summary caustic, self-serving comic relief to the plot.
• Avery Arable is the elder brother of Fern. Like
After her father spares the life of a piglet from slaughter- Templeton, he is a source of comic relief.
ing it as runt of the litter, a little girl named Fern Arable
nurtures the piglet lovingly, naming him Wilbur. On • Homer Zuckerman is Fern’s uncle who keeps
greater maturity, Wilbur is sold to Fern’s uncle, Homer Wilbur in his barn. He has a wife, Edith, and an
Zuckerman, in whose barnyard he is left yearning for assistant named Lurvy.
companionship but is snubbed by other barn animals, un-
• Other animals in Zuckerman’s barn, with whom
til befriended by a barn spider named Charlotte, living
Wilbur converses, are a disdainful lamb, a talkative
on a web overlooking Wilbur’s enclosure. Upon Wilbur’s
goose, and an intelligent “old sheep".
discovery that he is intended for slaughter, she promises
to hatch a plan guaranteed to spare his life. Accord- • Henry Fussy is a boy of Fern’s age, of whom Fern
ingly, she secretly weaves praise of him into her web, at- becomes fond of.
tracting publicity among Zuckerman’s neighbors who at-
• Dr. Dorian is the family physician/psychologist
tribute the praise to divine intervention. As time passes,
consulted by Fern’s mother, and something of a wise
more inscriptions appear on Charlotte’s webs, increasing
old man character.
his renown. Therefore, Wilbur is entered in the county
fair, accompanied by Charlotte and the rat Templeton, • Uncle is a large pig whom Charlotte disdains for
whom she employs in gathering inspiration for her mes- coarse manners and Wilbur’s rival at the fair.

1
2 4 RECEPTION

3 History than 45 million copies and been translated into 23 lan-

White’s editor Ursula Nordstrom said that one day, in
1952, E.B. White handed her a new manuscript, the only
version of Charlotte’s Web then in existence, which she
read soon after and enjoyed.[3] Charlotte’s Web was pub-
lished three years after White began writing it.[4]
guages. It was a Newbery Honor book for 1953, losing
to Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark for the medal.
In 1970, White won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, a
major prize in the field of children’s literature, for Char-
lotte’s Web, along with his first children’s book, Stuart Lit-
tle, published in 1945.

Since E. B. White published Death of a Pig in 1948,[5] Maria Nikolajeva (in her book The Rhetoric of Character
an account of his own failure to save a sick pig (bought in Children’s Literature) calls the opening of the novel a
for butchering), Charlotte’s Web can be seen as White’s failure because of White’s begun and then abandoned hu-
attempt “to save his pig in retrospect”.[6] White’s overall man dimension involving Fern, which, she says, obscures
motivation for the book has not been revealed and he has any allegory to humanity, if one were to view the animals’
written: “I haven't told why I wrote the book, but I haven't story as such.[15] Seth Lerer, in his book Children’s Litera-
told you why I sneeze, either. A book is a sneeze”.[7] ture, finds that Charlotte represents female authorship and
creativity, and compares her to other female characters
When White met the spider who originally inspired in children’s literature such as Jo March in Little Women
Charlotte, he called her Charlotte Epeira (after Epeira and Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden.[16] Nancy Lar-
sclopetaria, the Grey Cross spider, now known as Aranea rick brings to attention the “startling note of realism” in
sericata), before discovering that the more modern name the opening line, “Where’s Papa going with that Ax?"[17]
for that genus was Aranea.[8] In the novel, Charlotte gives
her full name as “Charlotte A. Cavatica”, revealing her Illustrator Henry Cole expressed his deep childhood ap-
as a barn spider, an orb-weaver with the scientific name preciation of the characters and story, and calls Garth
Araneus cavaticus. Williams’ illustrations full of “sensitivity, warmth, hu-
mor, and intelligence.”[18] Illustrator Diana Cain Bluthen-
The arachnid anatomical terms (mentioned in the begin- thal states that Williams’ illustrations inspired and influ-
ning of chapter nine) and other information that White enced her.[19]
used, came mostly from American Spiders by Willis
J. Gertsch and The Spider Book by John Henry Com- There is an unabridged audio book read by White him-
stock, both of which combine a sense of poetry with self which reappeared [20]
decades after it had originally
scientific fact.[9] White incorporated details from Com- been recorded. Newsweek writes that White reads the
stock’s accounts of baby spiders, most notably the “flight” story “without artifice and with a mellow charm,” and
of the young spiders on silken parachutes.[9] White that “White also has a plangency that will make you
sent Gertsch’s book to illustrator Garth Williams.[10] weep, so don’t listen (at least, not to the sad parts) while
[20]
Williams’ initial drawings depicted a spider with a driving.” Joe Berk, president of Pathway Sound, had
woman’s face, and White suggested that he simply draw recorded Charlotte’s Web with White in White’s neigh-
a realistic spider instead.[11] bor’s house in Maine (which Berk describes as an espe-
cially memorable experience) and released the book in
White originally opened the novel with an introduction of LP.[21] Bantam released Charlotte’s Web alongside Stu-
Wilbur and the barnyard (which later became the third art Little on CD in 1991, digitally remastered, having ac-
chapter), but decided to begin the novel by introducing quired the two of them for rather a large amount.[21]
Fern and her family on the first page.[10] White’s publish-
ers were at one point concerned with the book’s ending In 2005, a school teacher in California conceived of a
and tried to get White to change it.[12] project for her class in which they would send out hun-
dreds of drawings of spiders (each representing Char-
Charlotte’s Web has become White’s most famous book; lotte’s child Aranea going out into the world so that she
but White treasured his privacy and that of the farmyard can return and tell Wilbur of what she has seen) with ac-
and barn that helped inspire the novel, which have been companying letters; they ended up visiting a large num-
kept off limits to the public according to his wishes.[13] ber of parks, monuments and museums, and were hosted
by and/or prompted responses from celebrities and politi-
cians such as John Travolta and then-First Lady Laura
Bush.[22]
4 Reception
A 2004 study found that Charlotte’s Web was a common
read-aloud book for third-graders in schools in San Diego
Charlotte’s Web was generally well-reviewed when it was
County, California.[23] Based on a 2007 online poll, the
released. In The New York Times, Eudora Welty wrote,
National Education Association named the book one of
“As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about
its “Teachers’ Top 100 Books for Children.”[24] It was one
magical in the way it is done.”[14] Aside from its paper-
of the “Top 100 Chapter Books” of all time in a 2012 poll
back sales, Charlotte’s Web is 78th on the all-time best-
by School Library Journal.[25]
selling hardback book list. According to publicity for the
2006 film adaptation (see below), the book has sold more Its awards and nominations include:
5.2 2006 version 3

• Newbery Honor Book (1953)[26]

• Horn Book Fanfare (1953)[27] This is the sequel to the 1973 film, released direct-to-
video by Paramount Pictures.
• Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal (1970) (awarded to
White for his children’s books: Charlotte’s Web and
Stuart Little) 5.2 2006 version
• Massachusetts Children’s Book Award (1984)[28]
Main article: Charlotte’s Web (2006 film)

5 Film adaptations Paramount Pictures, with Walden Media, Kerner Enter-

tainment Company, and Nickelodeon Movies, produced
a live-action/animated film starring Dakota Fanning as
Fern and the voice of Julia Roberts as Charlotte, released
on December 15, 2006.

6 Video game
Main article: Charlotte’s Web (video game)

A video game of the 2006 film was developed by

Backbone Entertainment and published by THQ and
Sega, and released on December 12, 2006 for the Game
Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2 and PC.

7 See also
• Charlotte’s Web (musical)

• List of best-selling books

• The Tale of Little Pig Robinson

• "Low THC cannabis (“Charlotte’s web”)"

8 References
[1] “Private Tutor”. Factmonster.com. Retrieved 2014-05-
25.
Charlotte’s Web, 2001 VHS
[2] “Charlotte A. Cavatica: Bloodthirsty, Wise And True”.
NPR. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
5.1 1973 version
[3] Nordstrom, Ursula (1974-05-12). “Stuart, Wilbur, Char-
lotte: A Tale of Tales”. The New York Times. Retrieved
Main article: Charlotte’s Web (1973 film)
2008-12-22.

The book was adapted into an animated feature by
Hanna-Barbera Productions and Sagittarius Productions
in 1973 with a song score by the Sherman Brothers.
[4] White, E. B. (2006). “Authors & illustrators: E. B. White:
AUTHOR NOTE: A Letter from E. B. White”. harper-
collinschildrens.com. HarperCollins Publishers. Re-
trieved 2009-05-31.

[5] White, E.B. (January 1948). “Death of a Pig”. The At-

5.1.1 2003 sequel lantic. Retrieved 2011-08-30.

Main article: Charlotte’s Web 2: Wilbur’s Great Adven- [6] Weales, Gerald (1970-05-24). “The Designs of E. B.
ture White”. The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
4 10 EXTERNAL LINKS

[7] Usher, Shaun. “A book is a sneeze”. Letters of Note. Re- [26] Newbery Medal Home Page, American Library Associa-
trieved 6 August 2013. tion

[8] Elledge, Scott (1984). E. B. White: A Biography. W. W. [27] Book awards: A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book
Norton and Company. ISBN 0-393-01771-0.
[28] Massachusetts Children’s awards
[9] Neumeyer, Peter F. (1991). “Charlotte, Arachnida: The
Scientific Sources”. The Lion and the Unicorn 19 (2):
223–221. doi:10.1353/uni.1995.0034. ISSN 0147-2593.
9 Further reading
[10] Elledge (1984), p. 295.
• Griffith, John W. (1993). Charlotte’s web: a pig’s
[11] White, E.B.; Dorothy Lobrano Guth (ed.) (1976). Letters salvation. New York: Twayne. ISBN 0805788123.
of E.B. White. Harper and Row. pp. 353–354. ISBN
0-06-014601-X. • Neumeyer, Peter F.; Williams, Garth; White, E. B.
[12] White (1976), p. 351.
(1994). The annotated Charlotte’s web. New York:
HarperCollins. ISBN 0060243872.
[13] Garfield, Henry (May 2007). “E.B. White’s Web”.
Bangor-Metro. Retrieved 2009-06-17. • White, E. B. (2007). Some pig!: a Charlotte’s web
picture book. Illustrated by Maggie Kneen. New
[14] The New York Times, October 19, 1952 York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060781610.
[15] Nikolajeva, Maria (2002). The Rhetoric of Character in • White, E. B. (2008). Wilbur’s adventure: a
Children’s Literature. Scarecrow Press. pp. 55–56. ISBN Charlotte’s web picture book. Illustrated by Mag-
0-8108-4886-4. gie Kneen. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN
[16] Lerer, Seth (2008). Children’s Literature. University of 9780060781644.
Chicago press. pp. 249–251. ISBN 0-226-47300-7.
• Sims, Michael (2011). The story of Charlotte’s web:
[17] Larrick, Nancy (1982). A Parent’s Guide to Children’s E. B. White’s eccentric life in nature and the birth
Reading (Fifth ed.). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The of an American classic. New York: Walker & Co.
Westminster Press. p. 67. ISBN 0-664-32705-2. ISBN 9780802777546.
[18] 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- 10 External links
47484-6.
• Charlotte’s Web home page at publisher’s site
[19] Bluthenthal, Diana Cain (2005). The Art of Reading:
Forty Illustrators Celebrate RIF’s 40th Anniversary. Com-
piled by Reading Is Fundamental. Dutton Books. p. 30.
ISBN 0-525-47484-6.

[20] Ames, Katrine; Marc Peyser (1991-12-09). “For Little

Pitchers With Big Ears”. Newsweek (New York) (24): 79.
ISSN 0028-9604.

[21] Schnol, Janet; Joanne Tangorra (1991-10-18). “Bantam

Releases CD/Cassette of E. B. White Titles”. Publishers
Weekly 238 (46): 32. ISSN 0000-0019.

[22] Worldly Web: A traveling spider teaches fourth graders

the joys of reading, meeting new people, and experiencing
new adventures. Readers Digest 2007-06-13, page found
2012-11-13.

[23] 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. Retrieved August 19, 2012.

[24] National Education Association (2007). “Teachers’ Top

100 Books for Children”. Retrieved August 19, 2012.

[25] Bird, Elizabeth (July 7, 2012). “Top 100 Chapter Book

Poll Results”. School Library Journal “A Fuse #8 Pro-
duction” blog. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
 5

11 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

11.1 Text
• Charlotte’s Web Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte’{}s_Web?oldid=679597781 Contributors: The Anome, Ed Poor,
William Avery, Infrogmation, Oliver Pereira, Ahoerstemeier, DavidWBrooks, Mark Foskey, LittleDan, Amcaja, Samw, RickK, Whis-
perToMe, Zoicon5, Furrykef, Bearcat, Ajd, LGagnon, Bkell, Hadal, Risk one, Jdavidb, Bluejay Young, Jackol, R. fiend, Antandrus,
OverlordQ, JimWae, Meweight, Joyous!, MakeRocketGoNow, RevRagnarok, Perey, Tordek ar, Diagonalfish, Discospinster, Loganberry,
Caesar, YUL89YYZ, Vierstein, Kbh3rd, Szyslak, Matteh, Bobo192, B Touch, Hajenso, Rje, CyberSkull, SidP, HenkvD, RainbowOfLight,
Fdewaele, Thryduulf, Angr, The JPS, Woohookitty, Eclecticos, MrDarcy, AnmaFinotera, Kralizec!, Dysepsion, Rjwilmsi, SMC, N-Man,
Kwharris, Yamamoto Ichiro, KaiMartin, Austrian, Scorpionman, Doc glasgow, Jak123, Who, Bitoffish, Gurch, Aasmith, Chobot, Ex-
traordinary Machine, Stephenb, Mipadi, RattleMan, Trovatore, Blindwaves, GracieLizzie, Tony1, DeadEyeArrow, Elkman, Geopgeop,
Pegship, Thnidu, RamirBorja, Sarefo, JuJube, Kevin, Katieh5584, Mikewertheim, DearPrudence, SmackBot, Classicfilms, InverseHy-
percube, Grey Shadow, Dwanyewest, Antrophica, Carl.bunderson, Kevinalewis, Delux, Saros136, Chris the speller, Miquonranger03,
MalafayaBot, Zachkudrna18@yahoo.com, Sadads, Kostmo, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Mulder416, Jacob Poon, Konczewski, Elendil’s
Heir, Greg5030, Bigturtle, Wiki4Life, WaldoJ, Dream out loud, DMacks, Gildir, Risssa, Kukini, Esrever, Kuru, Superchickenwing, Iri-
descent, NativeForeigner, Beve, Roehl Sybing, Courcelles, JForget, CmdrObot, Tanthalas39, Unionhawk, El aprendelenguas, Howard352,
Shernren, Cydebot, CovenantD, Gogo Dodo, Otto4711, Islander, Codetiger, DumbBOT, Fh1, Int3gr4te, Thijs!bot, Epbr123, Krabs600,
Mojo Hand, Marek69, Goodblue2, Natalie Erin, Escarbot, AntiVandalBot, RobotG, Mvjs, Srmcd1, Tjmayerinsf, Olexandr Kravchuk,
AdamDeanHall, Leevclarke, Robina Fox, Vinny1994, Gilld, TAnthony, Siddharth Mehrotra, Bencherlite, Lawikitejana, Bongwarrior,
VoABot II, P64, CTF83!, Nyttend, Mrbobmac, Stockful Guy, Simon Peter Hughes, Shaneymike, Ethansega, MartinBot, Poeloq, Rsl12, Joe-
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11.2 Images
• File:Charlotte’{}s_Web_VHS_Movie_(fair_use_only).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Charlotte%27s_
Web_VHS_Movie_%28fair_use_only%29.jpg License: Fair use Contributors:
Cropped version of image uploaded to Wikimedia Commons [1]] by User:Troydevinny546. (It is expected that source image will have been
deleted soon, as non-free material is not permitted at Commons, and this is a derivative of a copyrighted work) Original artist: ?
• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: ? Contributors: ? Original
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• File:Sow_with_piglet.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Sow_with_piglet.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/jun01/k9441-1.htm Original artist: Scott Bauer, USDA
• File:Tom_Sawyer_1876_frontispiece.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Tom_Sawyer_1876_
frontispiece.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/
cph.3b04662. High resolution image from http://memory.loc.gov/master/pnp/cph/3b00000/3b04000/3b04600/3b04662u.tif Original
artist: True Williams
• File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg License: Public domain
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11.3 Content license

• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0