Illustrated by Garth Williams. HarperCollins; 192 pages; fable; ages 8 and up; ISBN: 978-0-0644-0055-8.
Eight-year-old Fern lives on a farm. One day she prevents her father from killing the runt of a new litter of pigs. She names the pig Wilbur, who becomes friends with a wise, matronly spider named Charlotte in the farmer's barn. Wilbur becomes frightened and angry when he learns the culinary fate of all pigs ("I want to stay alive, right here in my comfortable manure pile with all my friends," he cries), so Charlotte spins a web—literally—that says "SOME PIG," which attracts attention from all over and earns Wilbur the new nickname of "Zuckerman's Famous Pig." Charlotte has saved Wilbur from the slaughterhouse, but how will he survive if she's no longer around to help him?
E.B. White's animal tale is an all-time classic, and for good reason: we all want mother figures like Fern and Charlotte to save us and make us feel secure in times of great need.
Charlotte's Web also contains a great deal of gentle humor, most of it courtesy of Templeton, a rat who looks out for himself above all others but ultimately does the right thing when needed. After all these years, I still find it hard not to tear up during the final chapter.
Winner of a 1953 Newbery Honor Book award. For a more intellectual animal story, check out George Orwell's Animal Farm (1954).
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