Charlotte's Web
A teacher’s look at why this book belongs in the Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me stage.
Why it fits Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me (for the kindergarten-ready set, between being read to and reading alone)
Some Pig. The first great read-aloud novel: friendship, loss, and the barnyard's whole turning year. Children meet big themes held safely in a parent's voice. The gold standard, permanently.
What makes it special
White wrote the great American read-aloud: friendship, mortality, and the turning barnyard year in prose that never talks down. Garth Williams' pencil illustrations are so definitive that no one has dared replace them. A child who hears this at six carries 'some pig' and its lessons for life.
From the publisher
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…
About E.B. White
E.B. White (1899-1985) wrote for The New Yorker for nearly six decades and revised and expanded William Strunk Jr.'s The Elements of Style. He wrote three novels for children, and Charlotte's Web was named a Newbery Honor book.
In autumn 1949 White watched a spider spin an egg sac in the barn of his farm in Maine. When he had to return to New York for work he cut the sac out with a razor blade, carried it there in a candy box punched with air holes, and weeks later found tiny spiderlings escaping and spinning webs all over his bedroom.
Also by this author: Stuart Little · The Trumpet of the Swan
More from “Chapter One, Together”
This book is part of The Best Books for Beginning Readers: 30 Teacher Picks (Read-to-Me, Read-by-Me) in our guide The Best Children’s Books by Age — 120 books chosen by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX. Come see how we build readers →
Nobody paid for this review — not the author, not the publisher — and the store link above earns us nothing. Our only interest is the reader this book fits.