Good Story, 08 Dec 2008
Having a dual form of dyslexia I did not learn to read until later in life. Thus I never read children's books while a child. Maybe that is why I read so many still today. I read this as part of a children's literature course in university.
It is an interesting book, about friendship, commitment, compassion, change and death. As such it deals with a lot of the big questions of life in ways a child can grasp.
For me the most moving part was when Wilber confessed to Charlotte that he did not like the thought of her as a blood sucker, towards the end of her life. Only true friends can be that open and honest.
The book is a powerful tale of true friendship and how our close friends can transform not only us but those around us.
(First written as Journal Reading Notes in 1999.)
Let the web unravel..., 21 Jun 2008
This is a great read for young and old alike.It deals with love, loyalty, loss and, ultimately, death. Told in such an easy style, the story of Fern, Wilbur and Charlotte is truely timeless.
Not just for children, 11 Jun 2007
I just recently read this book, at 21 as it came highly recommended by friends as a 'must read classic.' I thought it was a fantastic tale of friendship and didn't have a predictable everyone lives happily ever after ending.
I have heard more positive things about this story from adults than children, and think it is a story truly to be passed through the ages as parents read this much loved story from their childhood to their own children.
It should not just be dismissed as a 'kids book' as all ages can enjoy and identify with it's themes.
Classic story - a must read for kids!, 12 Apr 2007
Read this book as a child, and have recently bought it for my 8 year old daughter. She loved it as much as I did. Its a lovely story, and a real classic. It doesnt have the usual "and everyone lived happily ever after" ending either, I think thats good as kids do need to see that that doesnt always happen.
I will certainly be keeping hold of this book in the hope that my 2 sons will read it too, when they're old enough.
Wonderful, 17 Oct 2006
As a child I loved this book, the characters are wonderful especially Charlotte, for a childrens book it is full of depth but in easy to understand language, it is sad but it just makes the book more poignant and i love the way it does not shy away from reality.
Charming, 29 Dec 2008
This is a wonderful touching tale. It's very sweet & very moving. Makes you wonder why people eat and murder beautiful little creatures such as pigs. Everyone should read this story. It shows how compassionate and sensitive animals really are. I wouldn't recommend watching the film. It's very hypercritical. The little girl stops her dad from killing Wilbur and yet her mother dishes up bacon for breakfast.
Good Story, 08 Dec 2008
Having a dual form of dyslexia I did not learn to read until later in life. Thus I never read children's books while a child. Maybe that is why I read so many still today. I read this as part of a children's literature course in university.
It is an interesting book, about friendship, commitment, compassion, change and death. As such it deals with a lot of the big questions of life in ways a child can grasp.
For me the most moving part was when Wilber confessed to Charlotte that he did not like the thought of her as a blood sucker, towards the end of her life. Only true friends can be that open and honest.
The book is a powerful tale of true friendship and how our close friends can transform not only us but those around us.
(First written as Journal Reading Notes in 1999.)
I Love New York -- Great Gift for New Yorkers Over 75!, 18 May 2004
No one could say, "I Love New York," better than E.B. White did in this slim volume of stylish, moving caresses for her lovely, loving face. To each of us, though, New York shows a different face. E.B. White has captured the universal elements of that face in his perceptive observations about what you have noticed and felt about New York, but never shared with anyone.
I have many relatives and friends in New York City who are over 75 and have told me many wonderful stories about the late 40s there. Imagine my delight when I discovered that E.B. White had written this magnificent 7,500 word essay about his experiences in the city during the summer of 1948! I have the perfect gift now to help these warm-hearted people happily relive their more youthful days. And those who love New York, regardless of their age, will love this book, as well. So I will need to buy and give many copies of this book.
The book begins with a new introduction by Roger Angell, who is E.B. White's stepson. Mr. Angell was an editor at Holiday who helped arrange for this assignment for Mr. White. Mr. White had gone to live permanently in Maine by this time, so coming to New York was a travel assignment. You may recall that Mr. White had done a stint at The New Yorker during World War II that had brought him to Manhattan, so it was also a homecoming. Mr. Angell points out that many of the scenes described in the essay are now gone, something that Mr. White also pointed out in his introduction to the essay in 1949. In addition, many of Mr. White's complaints would be even more vociferous if uttered today. But one aspect of the work is unchanging, "Like most of us, he wanted it [New York City of an earlier time] back again, back the way it was." So this essay is very much about time-specific memory, and how that evokes moods and thoughts we value most. Change that dilutes those values is to be resisted. As Mr. White said, "New York has changed in tempo and temper during the years I have known it. There is greater tension, increased irritability."
The essay teems with stylish, dynamic prose that reminded me of the vibrancy of the exploding krill population during the summer months in whale feeding grounds. New York was experiencing a heat wave, and there was no air conditioning. Perhaps that's what accounts for the often heavy mood of pessimism, relieved by only a little peek at optimism here and there.
"It is a miracle that New York works at all. The whole thing is implausible."
"Mass hysteria is a terrible force, yet New Yorkers seem always to escape it by some tiny margin . . . ."
"But the city makes up for its hazards and deficiencies by supplying its citizens with massive doses of a supplementary vitamin -- the sense of belonging to something unique, cosmopolitan, mighty and unparalleled."
The great strength of the essay is in its many wonderful, astute observations about New York. First, Mr. White points out that there are three types of New Yorkers: Those who actually were born and live there, those who commute daily, and those who come to realize some ambition. Each adds something important to the pot.
"The city is literally a composite of tens of thousands of tiny neighborhood units." "Each neighborhood is virtually self-sufficient." So in many ways, New York is also about small-town America at this time.
While the city pulses with incredible energy and activity, the New Yorker or visitor has "the gift of privacy, the jewel of loneliness." Small town America never had these qualities. In other words, you can be disconnected from the great events in the city (except for the St. Patrick's Day parade, which is ubiquitous in its noise, as Mr. White points out) if you want to be, and you can retreat from human connection into solitude amongst the masses.
He describes the ethnic groups of the city, from Jews (the largest group) to blacks (a rapidly growing one in Harlem), and comments on the diverse rituals of very different lives. The section on the Bowery and the New Yorker's reactions to the people there was particularly powerful.
He is pessimistic about the new weapons of mass destruction (the atomic bomb at this time), but cheered by the building of the United Nations. "But it [New York] is by way of becoming capital of the world" despite being capital of nothing.
The end of the essay is a meditation on an old willow tree that has been nurtured in a courtyard, a humanizing reminder of nature and of caring . . . and the past. "This must be saved, this particular thing, this very tree." "If it were to go, all would go -- this city, this mischevious and marvelous monument which not to look upon would be like death."
After you have finished meditating on this paean to humanity's strivings, consider your own home town. What does it tell you that is equally uplifting? Write down those thoughts, and share them with your family. You will have made an irresistible connection into the future through the present and the past.
A well-written character study of New York City, 24 Jun 2002
This is a very elegantly presented essay. E.B. White has an effective and charming style of writing. The subject of the essay, New York City, is interesting and White captures the city's elusive and ambiguous qualities well. It is a city in which many great works of fiction have been set and it is a city where many great writers have lived and worked. It is fitting that White has produced this timeless 'character study' of the city.
One word of caution: this is really just a hardbound essay. It can be read very quickly. Some readers may feel that though the content is of a high quality, there is far too little of it!
New York in a new light, 24 Jul 2000
I bought this some months after my first visit to the city, which I thought was wonderful. Already a fan of his contemporaries such as Robert Benchley and Ring Lardner I knew this was going to be special. It was and then some. Short in length, the prose and descriptions within the book are perhaps some of the most understated and lyrical I've ever read. Why doesn't anyone write like they did anymore? Because that type of world isn't there anymore is perhaps the answer.
Wonderful - it's in a beautiful little hardback format too.
