Caught in the Web

Caught in the Web

Where’s Papa going with that ax?  So begins one of the most beloved books of children’s literature, Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. An essayist for the New Yorker magazine, White enjoyed writing about farm life and personalities. While successful, he worried that he would never be a great writer. After he married and moved to a farm in Maine, White was carrying a bucket of slops to the pigs when he was inspired. He said, "I had been watching a large spider in the backhouse, and what with one thing and another, the idea came to me." This story idea would become his masterpiece. 

 

Charlotte’s Web has often been adapted many times for the big screen. Parents and kids flock to theaters or buy DVDs to enjoy Hollywood’s version of this famous story. The special effects awe them. The music swells their emotions. The actors move them to laughter and tears.  Wilbur the pig is adorable.

Wilbur’s story will be shown in the movie, but many of the words that make this book so magical may be lost.  E. B. White weaves his story with words. He pulls the reader into the world of the barn just as Charlotte pulls a fly into her web.

The barn was very large. It was very old.  It smelled of hay and it smelled of manure.  It smelled of the perspiration of tired horses and the wonderful sweet breath of patient cows.  It has sort of peaceful smell—as though nothing bad could ever happen again in the world.

For Fern and her brother Avery, summer is a time of wonder, when there are plenty of things for a child to eat and drink and suck and chew.  Dandelion stems are full of milk, clover heads are loaded with nectar, the Frigidaire is full of ice-cold drinks.  Everywhere you look is life, even the little ball of spit on the weed stalk, if you poke it apart, has a green worm in it. 

Each animal in the barn cellar has a distinct personality. The gander is brave and strong, but he worries about the rat: [Templeton] had no morals, no conscience, no scruples, no consideration, no decency, no milk of rodent kindness, no compunctions, no higher feeling, no friendliness, no anything.  

The music of White’s words echo. Even the description of Wilbur’s dinner is like a melody: skim milk, wheat middlings, leftover pancakes, half a doughnut, the rind of a summer squash, two pieces of stale toast, a third of a gingersnap, a fish tail, one orange peel, several noodles from a noodle soup, the scum off a cup of cocoa, an ancient jelly roll, a strip of paper from the lining of the garbage pail, and a spoonful of raspberry jello.   

Charlotte wove words into her web in order to save Wilbur’s life. She wrote that Wilbur was Terrific  and Radiant. But the word that saved his life was “Humble.” E. B. White wrote, "All I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.”  

Before you take your children see a film version of Charlotte’s Web, spend some time sharing the quiet wonder of the book. Let them hear the words that convey the magic. Let them enjoy the sights and smells that Wilbur knows, this lovely world, these precious days… Help them to be caught in the web of reading and come to know the glory of everything.

          (All words in italics are quotes from Charlotte’s Web. Quotes from E.B. White are in quotation marks.)