Charlottes web (1952)

I read this classic as an adult, not as a child. Text: Wonderful. Illustrations: Spectacular. But—
Here is my poem about it.

When I was a child I put it down.
Charlotte was a spider, not a human.
I wanted to know about humans
because I couldn’t figure out if I was one,
so I resolved to read only about humans.
Preferably girls who played with dolls
and sat behind casement windows.
Fern wasn’t the type.
In later years, I put down Animal Farm.
I wasn’t into pigs, Wilbur or otherwise.

But it is a classic after all
so I decided it was high time.
Bedtime story at seventy.
Now this is a book about friendship,
I’m told,
and sad to boot.
Despite Charlotte’s talented embroidery,
despite Wilbur being some pig,
terrific and radiant with buttermilk,
I foresaw his transfiguration
to Green Eggs and Ham.
Like Cats who achieve the heaviside layer.
On a plate.
But it’s Charlotte who perishes, naturally, in childbirth.
Wilbur survives.
This is a happy story.

The other teaching: if you
tempt a rat with the right reward,
he’ll do you a lot of favors.
Lessons in Capitalism.

So octopii have feelings and bees have brains
and seahorses and swans and foxes and puffins
mate for life and trees talk
and elephants remember.
And I am both beast and person,
bigoted and often scared.
What’s the word for such blatant
discrimination among life forms?
Specist? Specious.
So I am. ( )

This classic children's book is about unique and different friendships. Our main character, a pig named Wilbur, and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. It is a novel of friendship, love, life, and death. ( )

What a pleasure to hear White read his own book. My second great teacher read this to my class over 50 years ago, and I haven't read (or listened) to it since. A few years ago, I gave it to my daughter to read, and she said she didn't like the ending. When I saw this audiobook version was available, I decided to revisit it myself. It is an astounding book--so unlike most children's books. Charlotte's Web treats its readers with respect, both in terms of the language of the book, which is filled with lots of big words, and in terms of subject matter, in this case, death. Both Wilbur the Pig's impending death as he is made into bacon and ham, and of death as a natural part of the universe. There is not a wiser book about friendship, losing a friend, and remembering a friend. For once, a book hailed as an immortal classic and fondly remembered from childhood lives up to--and exceeds--all expectations. I will ask my daughter to read it again. ( )

Independent Reading Level- 3rd-7th grade
Awards: John Newbery Medal 1953
Audie Award for Middle Grade 2020

Reading Level: 2nd-4th grades
Awards: John Newbery Medal (1953), Audie Award for Middle Grade (2020)