Charlotte's Web. Written by E.B. White. Pictures by Garth Williams. 1952. ISBN: 0-06-440055-7. Winner of the Newbery Honor medal. Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy. Ages 8+.
Fern, a young girl growing up on her families farm, saves a runt pig from her Father's ax, and decides to raise it as her own. He seems to be a special pig, and Fern names him Wilbur. They have an extremely close bond. When Wilbur is too big for fern to keep at her house, she sells him to her Uncle Zuckerman, and this becomes Wilbur's new home.
Wilbur quickly makes friends with the barnyard animals, including the Gander and Goose, Templeton the Rat, and the many sheep. He also becomes friends with a curiously eloquent speaking spider named Charlotte. Wilbur enjoys his days on the farm, getting fed slop and rolling in the mud and manure.
One day the old sheep tells Wilbur that the Zuckerman's are just getting him nice and plump so that at Christmastime, they can kill Wilbur for his meat. Wilbur freaks out and has a nervous breakdown. Charlotte, seeing all of this, comes up with a plan to help save Wilbur's life.
Charlotte spins words into her web that describe Wilbur. The Zuckerman's, as well as Fern's family, and people from all over come to see these words. "Some Pig," "Terrific," and "Radiant." As Wilbur goes to the fair to try to win a prize, Charlotte spins her final web to spell "Humble." At the fair, Wilbur and Mr. Zuckerman win a honorable prize, and Wilbur's life is spared.
Charlottle doesn't survive the fair, but her egg sac does, and Wilbur brings it home and watches over it until springtime when the eggs hatch and hundreds of baby spiders emerge. Three spiders choose to make Wilbur's pen their home.
This book is such a classic and uplifting story for young children to read. Obviously animals cannot talk in any language that we can understand, and so it does fall into a fantasy genre. As for how this book can be used in a classroom, there are lots of possibilities. I really think that it would be a great book to introduce animals and have the children each pick a farm animal to research and present a project on.
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