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Free-for-all Friday: Charlotte’s Web

Welcome to Free-for-all Friday, where I decide to throw out my normal conventions and just do whatever I want (with the knowledge that I haven’t posted this week and may not next week and just want to get something posted so I can say I didn’t go two full weeks between posts).  And today, I want to write a short review of Charlotte’s Web.

This children’s classic, by E.B. White, is one I hadn’t personally read (although I remember it being read to my class in grade school).  So I was delighted when I saw it on the great big list of Books I Should Read to Ethan.

I won’t compare the book to the recent film except to say that I enjoyed both, and I was glad there were fewer characters in the book.

The interaction between Charlotte and Wilbur is simply delightful, with Charlotte seeing the absolute best in Wilbur, and thereby bringing it out in him.

I suppose a theme of the book might be that we often become what we’re told we are.  In Wilbur’s case, “Some Pig,” “Radiant,” and “Humble.”

Of course, through much of the book, the friendship between the spider and pig seems pretty one-sided, as Charlotte apparently does much more for Wilbur than he (or the reader, perhaps) feels he does for her.  My favorite line of the book is toward the end, when Wilbur wonders what he ever did for her.

“You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte.  “That in itself is a tremendous thing.”

How often I forget what a tremendous thing a friend is.  I’m glad I read this book, if only to be reminded of that fact.