Charlotte's Web

Harmless enough tale. Did not care for the repetitious sentence structures, bracketed word definitions, occasionally uncharacteristic dialogue from the characters, the negative portrayal of the rat, and the extremely basic plot. I don't think the fact that it is a book for children excuses it of all of these points.

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Rounded up to 4 stars

Charlotte's web is an interesting look into friendships, the reality of life, death, and on some levels, could be taken as a comment on how we treat animals and in what things we see value (Wilbur was told he wouldn't be killed for food simply because he was special or clean). I don't know if that was E.B. White's intent, but it definitely could be analyzed in that regard.

It's a simple story. Girl gets pig, pig is lonely, meets an unlikely new friend, spider works to save pig's life by weaving a web, spider weaves egg sac and dies, and pig remembers his friend fondly while getting to know friend's children. It encapsulates a lot of topics for such a simple story.

Overall, not anything AMAZING in my mind, however, it has its strengths and is a classic story that continues to teach and highlight important topics for children and adults alike.