Charlotte's Web

by E.B. White, Garth Williams (Illustrator), Rosemary Wells (Illustrations)

Summary: Charlotte’s Web opens the door to a magical world, which a young girl named Fern finds herself a part of. Fern spends her free time with Wilbur the pig whom she loves and the other barn animals who play a large part in the life of Wilbur. Charlotte A. Cavatica, the large grey spider, befriends Wilbur and helps him deal with the shocking news that his life will end as bacon on someone’s plate. Charlotte goes as far as coming up with an interesting plan that only this spider could carry out with the help of Templeton the rat (who never does anything unless there is something in it for himself) to help Wilbur escape death.

An evaluation by genre: Children s fantasy fiction

Motivational Activities: 1. I will explain to students that, instead of reading the novel, today we will be watching a video that shows the words on the bottom of the screen.
2. I will show a video that illustrates the novel and displays the words on the screen as well. We will read and watch pp. 66-104.
3. After watching the video, I will ask if any of the students knew some of the events that would happen in today’s portion of the reading. Why did they think this? What happened yesterday to show us what would happen today?
4. I will explain to children that this is called prediction: when we guess what will happen next based on what has already happened. I will ask the children if they have any ideas what might happen tomorrow. Why do they think so?
5. Students will be instructed to prepare at least five questions about what might happen in the rest of the book.
6. After they have finished, students will pair up with a classmate and answer each other’s questions creatively 

Discussion Questions: What type of spider is Charlotte? 

What type of web does she weave? 

What is interesting about a spider’s body?

 What do spiders eat? 

Personal Comments: One of the best books written for children that I've read so far this year.

It has full of lessons that anyone including adults can learn from or at least be reminded of. It has many interesting characters that anyone can relate to. It's about life - the young pig Wilbur learning his life important lessons from the caring spider Charlotte. It's about friendship - Fern taking care of runt Wilbur, Charlotte weaving for Wilbur, rat doing favors for Wilbur and Charlotte, etc. Most importantly, it's about the passing of time - Charlotte dying at the end of story but leaving to Wilbur her sack of eggs containing her 514 children. 

It is simply written with illustrations and funny situations. However, if you reflect on each chapter, you would recall actual situations in your life similar to the events in the book. The passing of time message towards the end of the book is particularly heartwarming and will remind you one more time of your immortality and we are all just passing through. It is also not predictable; neither I had heard anything about it nor seen a movie based on the book prior before yesterday. Now, I am glad I picked it up yesterday morning and started reading.

Reference:

• Neumeyer, Peter F.; Williams, Garth; White, E. B. (1994). The annotated Charlotte's web. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060243872.
• White, E. B. (2007). Some pig!: a Charlotte's web picture book. Illustrated by Maggie Kneen. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060781610.