The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic by Michael Sims

Jul 06, 2011 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a sweet enough book. I thought that if I was E.B. White's wife & he wrote me a letter from the dog's perspective to tell me that he was happy I was pregnant because he was too shy to tell me himself, I might be angry, but I guess if I was E.B. White's wife that wouldn't be unexpected behavior. I didn't realise what a lovely poet he was. Look for me to be reading Charlotte's Web on my lunch break.

4 likes · like · see review

Feb 16, 2012 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Book Report: The well-studied life of Andy and Katharine White, The New Yorker's original power couple, would seem to be infertile territory for new and original uses of its rich, deep material. There have been books and books on the magazine, on the couple, on the people that they knew and the world they both created and lived in. But no one until now connected Andy, nature, and Charlotte's Web, arguably one of the 20th century's most influential children's books.

Sims does this unusual job...more The Book Report: The well-studied life of Andy and Katharine White, The New Yorker's original power couple, would seem to be infertile territory for new and original uses of its rich, deep material. There have been books and books on the magazine, on the couple, on the people that they knew and the world they both created and lived in. But no one until now connected Andy, nature, and Charlotte's Web, arguably one of the 20th century's most influential children's books.

Sims does this unusual job deftly, providing us with the bare facts of Andy's life, expanding upon those facets that serve his thesis that E.B. "Andy" White was less a social maladroit than a man in love with the natural world, and not greatly interested in most of the manufactured world around him; this slantwise perspective is what allowed the shy guy to see the story he would write, where others would merely have killed the pig for supper and brushed the web aside on the way out of the barn.

Due attention is given to the work life and the marriage of the man, and since that's well-trodden territory, the author leaves it in bare-bones form. I agree with this decision because it lets him get to the more involving parts of the story: Why did Charlotte come to be? What forces shaped the story, where did they come from, and how did this book make its journey from brainstorm to commercial success? Here is Sims's strength: He never bloviates about His Ideas, he distills a prodigious amount of reading, thinking, and talking into a nuanced, interesting, and immersive read about a book that, I suspect, most of us remember quite clearly encountering for the first time.

My Review: I disliked Stuart Little as a boy. I'd seen the dog give birth before I read it for the first time; I told my mother, "That story's stupid, she couldn't have had a baby that small alive." Mama looked at me a minute and said, "You're a very practical person, aren't you daaahlin?" (My mother was Southern.) She then gave me Charlotte's Web. I was forever changed. Death entered my world. I don't mean awareness of it; I mean the *experience* of death, when Charlotte dies, was completely and utterly real for me. Absence. Empty space where before was an important life. Re-reading the book, as I did three or four times, couldn't make death go away. Charlotte was gone, that was that, no way was she coming back and her daughters weren't her. It took some time to recover from this blow.

And then several things happened: 1) I found out the same guy wrote this wonderful book as the dumb mouse-boy book. 2) I suddenly, in a great flash, realized that stories require readers to live, and even if Charlotte was dead, the story wasn't. 3) Maybe Stuart Little wasn't as bad as I thought it was, because the same guy told it! (Actually, I still think it's stupid, and I don't like it to this good day, forty-four years later.)

So this book arrives from its publisher, all pretty and invitingly designed, and it's about the book that changed my worldview, and it's got that great new-book, ink-and-paper smell; well, what else to do but put down everything I was reading and all the chores I should be doing, curl up on my breezy, cool sunporch, and immerse myself in the story of the story I've adored for most of my life?

I am so very glad that I did. I feel refreshed and energized, ready to take on my own storytelling tasks with renewed vigor. The book isn't life-altering, or possessed of an outsized grandeur, or elucidative of the Mysteries of the Ages, so I can't make a case fo perfection; but to anyone who, as a sensitive child, was altered by that first encounter with Charlotte's Web, I recommend this book as a balm for your worn-out, worn-in adult soul.(less)

14 likes · like · see review

Dec 19, 2011 Nancy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

I'd read about a third of this book when my library notified me that the biography of Joseph Heller I requested had come in. I picked it up, dipped into it and, unfaithful reader that I am, put this biography of E. B. White aside to read Just One Catch. Heller definitely had a more interesting early life than that of the quiet and shy E. B. White who was raised in a financially comfortable home. Now the library wants The Story of Charlotte's Web back because someone else is waiting to read it. I...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 22, 2012 Allan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: early, reviewer, book

E.B. “Andy” White lived a life that seems to have led, by a pre-determined straight path to the inevitable publication of his masterpiece, Charlotte’s Web.[return][return]Despite growing up plagued by fears and insecurities, White led a life of pastoral brilliance and studied determination. Throughout the Great Depression the Whites’ were well off and able to live comfortably in a large home in Mt. Vernon, New York and summer in an idyllic lakeside cottage in Maine. [return][return]The youngest...more

like · see review

Feb 18, 2013 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

See this review on 1776books.net...
http://1776books.blogspot.com/2011/09...

I would bet that there is not a person alive who has not read, or at least heard of, Charlotte's Web. It is consistently ranked as the bestselling children's book of all time. Let those words sink in...OF ALL TIME. I remember reading it back when schools divided their reading groups into the "Bluebird" group, and the "Red Robin" group. There is a reason that the story of Charlotte, Wilbur, Templeton, and Fern is so popula...more See this review on 1776books.net...
http://1776books.blogspot.com/2011/09...

I would bet that there is not a person alive who has not read, or at least heard of, Charlotte's Web. It is consistently ranked as the bestselling children's book of all time. Let those words sink in...OF ALL TIME. I remember reading it back when schools divided their reading groups into the "Bluebird" group, and the "Red Robin" group. There is a reason that the story of Charlotte, Wilbur, Templeton, and Fern is so popular with both children and adults alike...it is timeless.

Even though the title of Sims' book is The Story of Charlotte's Web, it is not just about that. It is the story of author E.B. White's life, born Elwyn White. The White family lived in Mount Vernon, New York, but spent many a summer in Maine. From the beginning of his life, White was very uneasy around people, especially girls, and loved nothing better than to be with animals. I take exception to Sims' subtitle, E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic. I am not sure that I would define him as eccentric just because he preferred nature to everyday life. I think that he was able to find himself this way, and fortunately for us, he did. Otherwise, would we have a Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan, or Charlotte's Web? Probably not.

The most fascinating part of this book is reading the research that went into writing Charlotte's Web. Even though White was writing about fictional animals (but sometimes basing them on real-life counterparts), he wanted to be as accurate as possible (in Charlotte's egg-laying, for example). Just as fascinating is when legendary illustrator, Garth Williams, joins the team. Sims states that Williams' original drawing for the cover fetched $155,000 at auction.

The setting of Charlotte's Web is based on the White farm, still a running farm in Maine. White chose to live in a bucolic setting, most comfortable in his appreciation of the animals. If that is "eccentric", then lucky for us, that's what he was.

MY RATING - 4(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 21, 2013 Suzy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I gave this to my mom--a retired elementary school teacher--for Christmas, and she so dogged me to read it myself that I finally checked it out of the library to make her happy. I especially enjoyed reading the beginning chapters recounting EB White's upper-middle class childhood in early 1900's Mt. Vernon, NY. His was a happy family, though he himself showed early signs of neurosis from the get go. If you can be nostalgic for a period in which you never lived, then I was. As I read these early...more

like · see review

Jan 14, 2013 Agatha rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a biography of the author of Charlotte’s Web, Elwyn (or EB) White. I suppose I never put two and two together to realize that he also was the author of Stuart Little and/or The Trumpet of the Swan. Also, he was a writer for The New Yorker magazine for years and years, as was his wife Katharine (she was an editor), and he also edited and co-wrote the writing manual, Elements of Style by Strunk (who was his college prof) and White (yep, he’s *that* White!). So this was all very interesting...more

like · see review

Jul 02, 2012 Sara Dyck rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

The Story of Charlotte’s Web – Michael Sims

This is a low-key book about a low-key life in a pocket of the twentieth century that may evoke nostalgia. I think it will appeal to those who love Charlotte’s Web, or E. B. White’s writings, or the early New Yorker magazine, or hearing how White wove his connection with spiders – real and imaginary , on an idyllic farm -into a classic story.

Buthis biography has a puzzling hole. White was born in 1899 and lived until 1985. He lived through the Great Wa...more

like · see review

Nov 26, 2011 Esther rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: animals, favorites, memoir-biography, nature

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway. And it's everything the title promises. While not a full biography, it is mostly centered around the childhood experiences that influenced the eventual writing of "Charlotte's Web", and then the writing itself. I was most surprised by the samples of White's other writing, which I had not been exposed to before - some fine poetry, and articles about New York City, which left me wanting more. (Even in the city White found nature all around.) I also lov...more

like · see review

Aug 26, 2011 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a beautiful book about E.B. White, one of my childhood and adult writing heroes. I lived in this book for several happy days and grieved a bit for the era that E.B. White lived in, an era of really good writing. I enjoyed learning the sources of many of his characters and ideas. Was intrigued by his need for solitude and was amused reading that at his funeral someone said "If Andy were here with us today, he would not be here with us today." I admired how he didn't want Charlotte's Web t...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 24, 2011 Anne Broyles rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sims begins this biography with "The coachman said the eggs would never hatch." And right away, the reader enters into the natural, sensual world that E.B. White inhabited. Born in 1899, White was closely connected to the natural world. He was a detail person, lover of words, shy, socially awkward, better at writing his feelings than saying them out loud. Sims captures so much of the inner White and weaves anecdotes and quotations seamlessly into this work. I did find the first section (White’s...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 07, 2011 Alex Templeton rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a fun little read. I found Sims' style--narrating the events of White's life in a slightly fictional style, with himself (Sims) as the omniscient narrator, with access to all the players' thoughts and feelings--to be alternately entertaining and presumptuous, although it did keep me speeding along at a fast clip. I was surprised to find out that White grew up pretty close to where I did--in Mount Vernon, NY--and lived for a long time near Bar Harbor, ME, where I visited a few years ago....more

like · see review

Jul 24, 2011 Caren rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-nonfiction

When I was in the third grade (in 1962-3), my beloved teacher, Miss Stout, read us "Charlotte's Web". I was so enchanted, I remember the feeling of sitting in that wooden desk, hearing the tale of Wilbur and Charlotte and Fern unfold, as a vivid highlight of my elementary years. Surely that experience must have contributed to my passion for books today. Miss Stout married at the end of the school year and moved away to Kalamazoo, Michigan (which sounded like a Dr. Seuss sort of place to me). Yea...more When I was in the third grade (in 1962-3), my beloved teacher, Miss Stout, read us "Charlotte's Web". I was so enchanted, I remember the feeling of sitting in that wooden desk, hearing the tale of Wilbur and Charlotte and Fern unfold, as a vivid highlight of my elementary years. Surely that experience must have contributed to my passion for books today. Miss Stout married at the end of the school year and moved away to Kalamazoo, Michigan (which sounded like a Dr. Seuss sort of place to me). Years later, I read the book to my own children. It holds as much magic for adults as it does for children, which seems to me to be one of the qualities of a classic. So, I read this account of the life of Elwyn Brooks White (later known as 'Andy') with great interest. This careful, introspective, supremely literate man observed nature and animals closely all his life. The book layers, step by step, the places and events that culminated in this beloved book. Along the way, you get to meet other literary lights of the first half of the twentieth century, and see the development of "The New Yorker" magazine, where E.B. White worked from its inception. I found it quite amusing that the esteemed librarian of the children's department of the New York Public Library, Anne Carroll Moore, disliked both "Stuart Little" and "Charlotte's Web"--- this at a time when children's publishing catered to the dictates of children's librarians! Meanwhile, "Charlotte" got high praise from the likes of Eudora Welty, Bennett Cerf, and P. L. Travers (author of "Mary Poppins"), along with letters from countless children.I was struck by what an introvert Mr. White was, a quality not particularly valued in American culture. How fortunate he was to find a professional life that so suited him and that nurtured his considerable talent. (White is also, by the way, the White of Strunk & White's "The Elements of Style".) If you are at all interested in literature and publishing during the first half of the twentieth century, you will enjoy this book. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Feb 08, 2013 Lesley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Moderately enjoyable biography of E.B. White, creator of Wilbur, Fern, Templeton and of course Charlotte A. Cavatica. I skipped the descriptions of his idyllic mid-century childhood (snooze) but things picked up when New Yorker columnist "Andy" White began researching spiders in preparation for one of the century's most legendary children's books. With empathy, Sims describes White's moral ambivalence over his relationship with farm animals, especially pigs: trusted protector and caregiver, who...more

like · see review

Nov 29, 2011 Elaine Bearden added it

I was so excited to read about this book and get it. I've been reading it before bed, which has it's problems. I've read the first two chapters twice. Now that I'm getting into it, this is due and someone else requested it, so I am returning. However, something about this book really bugs me. The author seems to have done his homework with research and visiting these places. And the back of the book has footnotes. But I'm frustrated by the fact that the text does not have any footnote numbers....more

like · see review

Oct 05, 2011 Sheila rated it 1 of 5 stars

I tried to grit my teeth and get through this thing, but gave up on page 77 (thru 78) where it took Michael Sims 4 paragraphs to tell us Mr. White had picked up the first issue of The New Yorker at Grand Central Station on his way to work. Dear Mr. Sims, E.B. White co-authored a work of non-fiction with William Strunk, Jr. called "The Elements of Style" for writers. It's all of 89 pages and well worth your time.

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 28, 2011 SheilaRaeO rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I am such a huge fan of E.B. White, and of course Charlotte’s Web as well as Stuart Little are two of my top favorite books from my childhood. Anxious to learn more about this beloved author, I was excited to receive “The Story of Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White’s Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic”. I enjoyed the small glimpses into his life from childhood through his death at age 86. The frustrating thing to me however, was the habit Sims had of throwing in snatches of...more I am such a huge fan of E.B. White, and of course Charlotte’s Web as well as Stuart Little are two of my top favorite books from my childhood. Anxious to learn more about this beloved author, I was excited to receive “The Story of Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White’s Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic”. I enjoyed the small glimpses into his life from childhood through his death at age 86. The frustrating thing to me however, was the habit Sims had of throwing in snatches of a story and then just letting it go without ever carrying it through. I wanted to know more. Such as the passage starting at the bottom of page 60 that reads:

“He never tried to further his acquaintance with Mildred elsewhere, but his thought kept returning to her bright eyes and graceful ankles. One evening after skating with her, a chilled but happy Elwyn rode the trolly home. For some time, the Summit Avenue house has been empty of other children. Quiet Marian had been married for more than a decade....”

What? So what happened with Mildred? We never really hear about her again except for a brief reference to Elwyn packing the strap that they had each held one end of as they skated that night, to take with him to college. There were several times the author dropped in noteworthy tidbits, but left them shortchanged by not fully explaining their relevance or even completing the thought. Like some of the stories flew in from left field.

The glimpses into his writing process were where it really got interesting. Learning about the actual farm in Main and the barn and animals that were the setting for the book was fascinating. I loved seeing photos of the drawings White did as he was conceptualizing the farm where Wilbur and Charlotte lived. The great fascination with spiders and the insistence on accuracy in portraying the orb weaver spider, all worked together to be the great strength of this book.

I now look forward to re-reading Charlotte’s Web with a whole new perspective and be charmed all over again.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 09, 2012 Minyoung Lee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Such a cute, quick read about one of my most favorite book and authors of all time. I am glad I got to meet, at least superficially, E.B. White and learn about his life a little bit more. It's amazing to learn about why writers end up writing about and what kind of writing they do well. This book may not have been the most detailed biography of a popular author, but the tone of the book and focus certainly matched his stories.

I really have to re-read Charlotte's Web again. I am pretty sure there...more

like · see review

Jul 07, 2011 Jaylia3 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Anyone who is a fan of E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web or who is interested in the writing process will find the long, detailed sections describing its creation fascinating. While I usually enjoy learning about the inspiration behind works of literature this account had too much minutiae for me. There were other parts of the book, however, that I found a lot more engrossing. I loved reading about life in the northeastern US during the early years of the last century, when automobiles were replacin...more

2 likes · like · see review

Oct 24, 2011 Carlyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

The most interesting part of this book describes E.B. White's shy and solitary childhood. His siblings were all much older and he found himself happiest in the company of animals. The family homestead just north of New York city had a barn where he could play. He wondered alone in nature (surely a safer time than ours) and was even able to skinny dip alone at night in a nearby pond. His days at the New Yorker are described, but I found it a little boring to read about some of his more superficia...more

like · see review

Nov 03, 2011 The Library Lady rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-biography

If you have never read anything about E.B. White--his collected letters, his essays,etc, you will get a pretty good view of the man here. But if you have, most of the material Sims works with is stuff you already know.

The two things I really enjoyed about this was the part that really was about what is in the title of this book, the "Story of Charlotte's Web". Lots of interesting details here. And the end of the book, involving White's son Joel and a group of schoolchildren, is extremely moving....more

like · see review

Jul 30, 2011 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club

Sims’ descriptions of White’s childhood were absolutely sublime, the settings picturesque, but a bit overwritten. Early on he often got lost in minutiae, particularly in his descriptions of White’s research on spiders. I think you really have to be an arachnophile to absorb and relish the amount of intricate details Sims shares.

Where the book really shined was at about the halfway point when he finally got to the creation of Charlotte’s Web. I loved the book as a kid and the story still warms my...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 13, 2013 Mark Desetti rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm not much of a non-fiction reader. And biographies are usually too detailed, long and dry to hold me. But this is different.

First, I had three books I read and reread in elementary school: The Wind in the Willows, Stuart Little, and Charlotte's Web. I believed in these books, these characters, these stories. It made sense to me that Stuart was human but just had the shy quiet demeanor of a mouse. I have long loved the writing of E.B. White from his children's novels to his essays.

This biograp...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 07, 2011 Brenda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

The only “eccentric” aspect of E.B. White’s life, in my opinion, is its normality. He doesn’t appear to have been a schizophrenic or an alcoholic—and, still, he managed a long career as a successful writer! And, even more startling, I actually read a biography about him. Most biographies of famous people seem to be filled with interpersonal drama—usually of an unhealthy variety. Young writers get the impression they’re supposed to be emotionally damaged if they want to develop even a modicum of...more The only “eccentric” aspect of E.B. White’s life, in my opinion, is its normality. He doesn’t appear to have been a schizophrenic or an alcoholic—and, still, he managed a long career as a successful writer! And, even more startling, I actually read a biography about him. Most biographies of famous people seem to be filled with interpersonal drama—usually of an unhealthy variety. Young writers get the impression they’re supposed to be emotionally damaged if they want to develop even a modicum of talent.

Although anxious in crowds and shy with females, White hardly seems unusual or unstable. In New Yorker essays, he depicted his fears in a humorous tone. Worrying about high speed public transportation, he coined the term “locomotophobia” as “fear that the [commuter train’s] engineer is dead” (91). But, really, who doesn’t worry about accidents when careening at speeds beyond our own control? White wasn’t so phobic that he refused to ride.

On a related note, Michael Sims suggests that White may have been mildly hypochondriacal, although I couldn’t determine how seriously I should take such claims. White suffered from allergies, stomach upset, occasional dizziness during his lifetime. At times he was a little down. At times, he seemed stressed. He may even have experienced some anxiety attacks. Lots of people do. I got the impression that Sims might be making much of White’s ills simply because he had so little trauma to report!

Perhaps, it was White’s healthy respect for the natural world that sustained him through eighty some years of life. His marriage (of almost fifty years) was happy. His essays and children’s stories continue to be taught.

Of greatest interest to me were 1) Sims’ chapter on the nature writers (John Muir, John Burroughs, William J. Long, Ernest Thompson Seton), who influenced the young White’s desire to treat animal life with respectful realism 2)the chapters devoted to the farm experiences and research that contributed to the composition and revision of Charlotte’s Web. Sims traces White’s notes to his sources, closely teasing out details of spider anatomy and behavior that might be overlooked by those who rush over detail in their haste to discover plot.

Although I can’t say that White’s prose ever rendered me sensible of the pleasures of farmyard manure(195), I can say that his depiction of Charlotte has contributed to my equanimity in the presence of arachnids of most kinds. Once, discovering a black widow in her web, not far from our country cabin, I invited my husband’s attention, expecting to share equal wonder at the rare vision. Not as swayed by childhood literature, he instinctively stomped before I could intervene. The result will forever remind me of the famous ballooning scene, in which Wilbur witnesses the birth of Charlotte’s aeronautical babies. My husband's foot inadvertently provoked baby black widows (they're really red) to burst from that web. Teeming in the hundreds,they seemed a veritable diaspora.

Thanks to E.B. White for contributing to my peace-of-mind in rural environments—and to Michael Sims for reminding me of the way words can weave a marvelous web.

(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 29, 2013 Janet Higginbotham rated it 4 of 5 stars

I now realize that E.B. White communed with nature because he found it so difficult to commune with humanity... and the result was his gifts to humanity in the form of his classic works of literature. I am a retired elementary teacher and read his books to my students throughout the 33 years I spent in the classroom. I can now relate the rapturous looks on their little faces as they imagined Charlotte spinning her wondrous web to save the life of a runty pig to the look on Andy White's face as h...more

like · see review

Jul 03, 2012 Yellowoasis rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

Initially I thought this book too long-winded in its approach, telling the story of E B White from his childhood days. However, I realised that all this background was leading up to his writing the book we all know and love. Many of his experiences were incorporated into the story: his love of rural life, his detailed observations of the natural world, are all in there. And for any aspiring writer, it shows the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to write the 'perfect' novel. He reworked...more

1 like · like · see review

Sep 28, 2012 Katelyn Beaty rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, books-on-books, childrens-lit

Offering a fine if pedantic read for anyone touched by Charlotte's Web, Sims traces the literary career of E.B. White and the delight in animals and farm life that permeate White's most famous novel. The early chapters tracing White's New York childhood and budding career at The New Yorker were interesting but seemed disjointed from the focus on CW. The prose takes off in the second half, where White's vision for CW, propelled by a fixation on spiders and their unusual beauty, is examined and la...more

like · see review

Oct 03, 2011 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, nonfiction

What a wonderful book about a children's classic. The beginning is a bit slow and reads like any other biography. But when E.B. White starts writing Charlotte's Web, the story and writing really pick up. Sims has clearly done his research and any reader will be delighted to learn about White's research process. If you read or teach this book to students, I highly recommend taking a look at this book. If you are pressed for time, you can probably skip the first part of the book, especially if you...more

like · see review

Jun 17, 2012 Christina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: park-ridge-book-club

This book didn't really engage me until shortly after page 160 when we met the pig and spider that inspired E.B. White's Charlotte's Web, but after that, I eagerly devoured all of the details relating to the writing of one of my favorite children's books. I felt that I learned a good deal about E.B. White, the author, but very little about E.B. White, the man. The passages about White's love of nature were particularly dull and seemed forced. I craved more information about his experiences writi...more

like · see review

Jun 05, 2012 Susan Morris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Just as magical as Charlotte's Web, this account of how E.B White's childhood informed his timeless story of Charlotte and Wilbur spun me into its web. "Andy" White was a brilliant, eccentric observer of both human and animal worlds. I loved reading about his early days at the New Yorker magazine and the love story between him and his beloved wife Katherine. Charlotte's Web was years in the making as he meticulously researched the life cycle of various arachnids and other barnyard species and st...more

like · see review

title link	preview: The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic
avg rating	preview: The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Cla Goodreads rating: 3.74 (503 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9680966-the-story-of-charlotte-s-web?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346969371l/9680966.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9680966-the-story-of-charlotte-s-web?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic by Michael Sims[/url]

The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (8)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Books by Michael Sims

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About The Story of Char...

The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (8)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Books by Michael Sims

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About The Story of Char...

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (8)