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Charlotte’s Web

E.B. White,

Garth Williams (Illustrator)

Start date: April 1, 2022

Finish date: April 30, 2022

Discussion: Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

May 04, 2023 Aly rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own, historical, audiobook, fantasy, children, classic, 2023

Such a good book. I remember loving this as a child, Wilbur is adorable and Charlotte was so caring and kind to him. There's sadness, but also hope and it does a good job showing the life cycle and that death doesn't mean we can't remember those we loved. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 18, 2014 Maggie rated it it was amazing

I loved this book! I thought it was very cute. It was also sad too.

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 07, 2014 Victoria Scott rated it liked it

Shelves: posted-on-blog

When I was younger, I loved to read. For a lot of people they didn't start reading until they were older, but for me I've been a reader all my life. So, as a kid desperate for anything she could get her hands on, I read this many times as a kid. As an almost-adult now, I decided I better read it again.

The characters are just as cute as I remember, although it was strange getting this new perspective on them. From the very beginning, I loved Fern. She was eager to save the runt of the litter, an When I was younger, I loved to read. For a lot of people they didn't start reading until they were older, but for me I've been a reader all my life. So, as a kid desperate for anything she could get her hands on, I read this many times as a kid. As an almost-adult now, I decided I better read it again.

The characters are just as cute as I remember, although it was strange getting this new perspective on them. From the very beginning, I loved Fern. She was eager to save the runt of the litter, and I loved that. She didn't think it was weird at all that she sat and talked to animals (we'll get to that later). And any book written from an animal's perspective is bound to be adorable. Wilbur had so much energy, just like a little kid. Charlotte was incredibly kind. Her idea was really clever! Templeton was full of attitude, which probably made him my favourite character. I can completely see why kids adore this book. Like I said, though, I got this new perspective on everyone. Yeah, Charlotte is really kind to Wilbur. But she's also really patronising to Wilbur, who is just a kid. She expects him to know everything about everything, and is plain rude to him when he doesn't. Then there's Wilbur, who is actually kind of depressed in the beginning. He's so negative about everything! He gets bored of being cooped up, and I'm pretty sure if this was written from an adult's perspective he'd have depression. Which, for a kids book, is a bit weird...

Actually, the book was a lot more negative than I remember it being. The ending was heartbreaking! They tried to make it sweet, but it really didn't work. That's not how happy endings work... Oh, and Fern decided to grow up. Like I said before, Fern could talk to animals. This was never really acknowledged as being out of the ordinary by anyone other than her mum. Not that her mum let her know what a unique 'power' she had. So all of that, on top of Wilbur's constant negativity, really brought the book down for me...

I rated this way lower than I expected to, only three stars. I would highly recommend this for a kid, but for a more judgmental adult, maybe stay away. It's not as cute as you'd expect it to be ...more

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Jan 20, 2021 C.P. Cabaniss rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I've studied French on my own off and on for years. Now, I want to put more effort into learning. Reading novels in French is a good way to help with that process and although I'm not an expert and I'm sure that I missed a lot of this due to lack of comprehension, I was pleasantly surprised by how well it seemed to go. ...more

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