Charlotte’s Web by EB White
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Fern Arable lives with her mother, father and brother on their small farm. When her father decides to ‘do away’ with the runt of the piglet litter Fern takes it upon herself to raise the small piglet herself and names him Wilbur. When Wilbur gets too big for the Arable’s land he goes to live with the Zuckerman’s, Fern’s Aunt and Uncle, in their barn where Fern can visit the pig she has grown to love. Although Fern visits as much as she can, she and Wilbur are not together as often. Wilbur starts to feel quite lonely in the big barn, that is until he meets Charlotte, a beautiful big grey spider who lives above Wilbur in the doorway of the barn. Wilbur and Charlotte soon become firm friends and when the old sheep tells of the plot the Zuckerman’s have to fatten Wilbur up for their Christmas dinner Charlotte hatches a plan to save Wilbur’s life that amazes and astounds the whole town!
A book that children can fall in love with. There is such affection and humour in this story and the characters are so well written, including not so loveable rogue Templeton the rat but it is Charlotte you can’t help but love and admire. It shows children what true friendship is and that nothing else is quite as important as the love and loyalty of a best friend.
The illustrations by Garth Williams also add to the enjoyment to the story and are not so frequent as to be intrusive.
The main message of the book remains timeless but there are some passages where the language and references have dated a little, which has been reflected in the score but overall this should not detract from any child’s enjoyment of the story and this is a book I would wholeheartedly recommend.
Unashamedly sentimental, this book leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling.
Charlotte's Web (Amazon.co.uk)
Author: E.B. White
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 176
Publication date: 2003-09-25
Publisher: Puffin
RRP: £5.99
Lowest new price: £1.39
Lowest used price: £0.01
Charlotte's Web (Amazon.com)
Author: E.B. White
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 176
Publication date: 2003-09-25
Publisher: Puffin Books
RRP: $12.40
Lowest new price: $4.30
Lowest used price: $0.67
This title presents the tale of how a little girl named Fern, with the help of a friendly spider, saved her pig Wilbur from the usual fate of nice fat little pigs.
Product Description
Claire from Shawnee, KS, USA
"The story, the writing, and the emotional, inevitable ending all spoke to me as a child, and this is a book that pleases adults as well. One of its greatest treasures is the permission it gives for kids to be alone, unstructured, whiling away the hours as Fern does in the barnyard. Fern's mother is so sure there's something wrong with her--but she's perfectly right. Kids need to hear that today, too. Life isn't all homework and music lessons and sports practices and texting. Sometimes it's just letting your imagination soar."
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