Charlotte's Web
Ratings357
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings357
Average rating3.9
Charlotte's Web is a book of children's literature by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams; it was published on October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers. The novel tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages praising Wilbur (such as "Some Pig") in her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live.
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Also contained in:
[Novels](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL483326W)
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Reviews with the most likes.
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.
My son loves this book. It raises interesting questions around life and death, but also has some good lessons around love, loyalty and friendship.
I really liked this book as a child, still doesn't make me like spiders though.
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.
