Week 4: The History of Children's Literature

Charlotte's Web

by: E.B. White

Second Grade

• APA Citation: White, E.B. (1952). Charlotte's Web. New York, NY: HarperCollins. 

• Description: "This beloved book by E.B. White, author of Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, is a classic of children's literature that is "just about perfect." This paper-over-board edition includes a foreword by two-time Newbery winning author Kate DiCamillo. Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high   up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter. E.B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. It contains illustrations by Garth Williams, the acclaimed illustrator of E.B. White's Stuart Little and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series, among many other books." Retrieved from Amazon.com on September 27, 2017: https://www.amazon.com/Charlottes-Web-White/dp/0061124958/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZJ6M9J229WZNYG81V4QR.

• Age/Grade Level: 8-12 years old, 3rd - 7th Grade

• Justification: I would read parts of Charlotte's Web to the class at a time as a story time, broken up into manageable sections over several days. It is a little advanced for the typical second grade reader, but if I read to the class, and only read a couple short chapters at a time, I think that the class would have no trouble following along with the plot line. It's a memorable, heartwarming book that I had to include after being reminded of the influence of E.B. White's works on my childhood reading (through reading Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White). Students would demonstrate both CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.1.a and CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.1.b in class discussions following the chapters read as a class each story time. They would be able to reflect, share thoughts and feelings about the book, and relate personal experiences and emotions to the content shared, demonstrating CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.4. (English Language Arts Standards >> Speaking & Listening >> Grade 2, Retrieved from Common Core State Standard Initiatives on September 27, 2017: http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/SL/2/).

• Keywords: friendship, nature, life cycle, compassion

• Review: "A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider, and a little girl. Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of a runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"- then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring. The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans- are often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too." reviewed in the October 1952 issue of Kirkus Reviews.

• Citation: Retrieved from Kirkus Reviews on September 27, 2017: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/eb-white/charlottes-web-white/.

• Awards:  Newbery Honor Book in 1953, ALA Notable Children's Book, Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, Horn Book Fanfare, Massachusetts Children's Book Award. Retrieved from HarperCollins on September 27, 2017: http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Charlottes-Web/.