"Where's Papa going with that ax?" With this statement eight-year-old Fern Arable saves Wilbur the pig's life. Happy to be alive, living in the barn, eating slops, and talking with the geese, the sheep, Templeton the rat, and Fern; Wilbur soon learns his life is again in danger; as he is to be the main course for Christmas dinner. Fern cannot save him this time, but Charlotte can. Charlotte A. Cavatica, the web-spinning, blood-drinking spider who becomes Wilbur's best friend and, like Fern, saves Wilbur's life. First published in 1952 Charlotte's Web was one of my favorite books as a child. Although I have not read it for 30 years, Charotte is still one of my favorite heroines. Charlotte, with her bravery, kindness, intelligence, and determination to save Wilbur, is the reason I appreciate spiders. Garth Williams pencil illustrations of farm life and E.B. White's slow-paced, bucolic writing evoke a less-hurried, uncomplicated era when there was time to swing on a rope hung from the barn loft and friendship could develop between a spider and a pig.
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