Newbery Winner: E.B.White
Award Winning Author-E.B.White
E.B. White started his writing career with the New Yorker magazine in 1925. He began writing children's stories in the 1930's. White attests his beginnings with children's fiction to his niece. Stuart Little was published in 1945 and the popular Charlotte's Web in 1952. E.B. White grew up on a farm and had a love for animals. It makes us wonder, did he have the imagination and magical ability to talk to those animals like his characters? They say his inspiration for writing Charlotte's Web came from watching a spider weave its web. He saw the spider die and then went on to find its sac of spiderlings. He kept the sac in a shoebox and was amazed by their life and went on to tell the story of Charlotte. Another source tells that he wanted a story in which a pig was saved. E.B. White was a highly imaginative and creative writer that his stories are still very popular today!
Below there's a short video from the author of The Story of Charlotte's Web- by Michael Sims
Charlotte’s Web
Illustrated by: Garth Williams
Being able to talk to animals is a wish that
lives in every child’s imagination. In Charlotte’s Web, a little girl, Fern
finds herself saving a runt pig and taking care of it. Her constant attention
to animals and lack of friends troubles her mother. Wilbur, the runt pig, ends
up living at her uncle’s farm across the road and tries to make friends with
the cows, sheep, horse, and geese, but ends up befriending Charlotte, the
spider. Charlotte promises Wilbur he will see snow after the other animals
frighten him, and makes it her mission to save him from slaughter. Templeton
the selfish mouse, ends up contributing to saving Wilbur. It seems as if Templeton
is in it only for slops but in the end shows he truly cares. Charlotte draws
attention to Wilbur by spinning words in a web above his stall. Wilbur is taken
to the fair and thanks to Charlotte’s web, is saved. Charlotte, much to
Wilbur’s dismay, dies as she leaves behind her spider babies. He and Templeton
save them and return to the farm to honor Charlotte as she had done for him.
Wilbur is saved, and from Fern’s mother’s point of view, Fern is saved too, as
she has made friends. This magical tale of friendship shows the importance of
humility, compassion, kindness, and strength. The animals and Fern show that
small things have a great value and everyone deserves a chance. Although some
appear not to deserve kindness, those are the ones that may need it the most.
Throughout this tale children will be entertained and amused while learning to
be humble and kind. I believe the author does a fantastic job using figurative
language and a voice that connects to young readers that will keep them turning
the pages.
BIBLIO: 2012, HarperCollins, ages 6-12, $6.29
Format: chapter book
ISBN: 0064400557
More Books by E.B. White
Bibliography
·
White, E. B.
(1929). The lady is cold : poems by E. B. W. New York: Harper and
Brothers.
·
Thurber, James; White,
E. B. (1929). Is sex necessary? Or, why you feel the way you do. New Yorker: Harper & Brothers.
·
The Wild Flag:
Editorials From The New Yorker On Federal World Government And Other Matters (1943)
·
Here Is New York
·
The Second Tree from the
Corner (1954)
·
The Points of My Compass (1962)
·
Letters of E. B. White (1976)
·
Essays of E. B. White (1977)
·
Poems and Sketches of E.
B. White (1981)
·
Writings from "The
New Yorker" (1990)
·
In the Words of E. B.
White (2011)
·
Every Day is Saturday
·
Quo Vadimus?
·
The Fox of Peapack
·
Farewell to Model T
·
An E. B. White Reader. Edited by William W. Watt and Robert W. Bradford.
Comments
Post a Comment