Charlotte's Web

1952, 1980 copyright (but see below about condition) HarperCollins edition
E. B. White
Illustrated by Garth Williams
Charlotte's Web
Purchased new for $3.95
Good condition paperback
B

This was a childhood favorite for me, and even in my late 20s I thought it was one of the best children's books I'd ever read.  Now though?  It's still good, with its blend of naturalism, fantasy, and humor.  But the things that bothered me about it before bother me more now.  And sadly, the main two things are the two significant characters we're introduced to in the first chapter: Fern and Wilbur.  I like Fern through most of the book.  She's a sweet, imaginative tomboy.  But then, after her mother worries about whether it's normal for Fern to spend all her time in a barn, with no friends but animals, Fern spends time at the fair with Henry Fussy, and she loses interest in the pig who was like a child to her.  You just know in a decade she'll marry Henry and be Fern Fussy, and it's just too awful to contemplate.

As for that pig, Wilbur is like a child, and not all in good ways.  He's very self-centered and whiny, expecting Charlotte the spider to solve all his problems.  Not till the end, when he protects the sac with the 514 baby spiders, does he start to grow up.

Charlotte is awesome though:  smart, brave, kind, witty, and loyal.  She's even a hairy-legged feminist, with her very matriarchal family.  The other character I like is Templeton.  Yes, he's a rat in more ways than one but, as he points out, he performs more heroic acts than Wilbur.  And he's got much more personality than Percy the Personality Kid in Hidden Valley of Oz.

And suffice to say, Williams knows how to draw rats, and other animals, much better than Dirk.  The illustrations are among Williams's best, without a weak one in the bunch, unlike the sometimes off Little House drawings.  Actually, his Wilbur is more endearing than White's, even when the pig is crying.  The humans aren't as good, but the cover picture of Fern, Wilbur, Charlotte, the old sheep, and the goose is just right.

(I suppose I could also compare this story to the earlier book by White, but all I can think of is that, as in Is Sex Necessary?, females have their act together more than males.)

The 1973 movie of Charlotte's Web, which White disliked, was a big part of my childhood, since it was constantly on TV and had Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte, Paul Lynde as Templeton, and many other voices that I knew from movies and television.  Even now I'll happily sing "Fine swine, wish he was mine, Zuckerman's famous pig" at little provocation.  Reading the book this time, I was surprised at how faithful the movie was, except for the songs, a bigger role for Henry Fussy and his nagging mother (ugh), and an elaboration of Templeton's junk food junkie dream of the fair.  At least, much of the dialogue and the basic messages of friendship and the cycle of life come through.  The 2006 version, with Julia Roberts as Charlotte and Dakota Fanning as Fern, is OK but it could no more replace the earlier version than Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka would replace Gene Wilder's.