Charlotte’s Web

• Genre: Fiction; middle-grade magical realism
• Originally Published: 1952
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 680L; grades 3-7
• Structure/Length: 22 chapters; approx. 184 pages; approx. 3 hours, 30 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Wilbur, a piglet and the runt of his litter, is saved from an early death when the farmer’s daughter, Fern, pleads with her father to let him live. Wilbur enjoys a full life in the barnyard with a colorful cast of other animal characters—in particular, a brilliant spider named Charlotte who keeps him safe by weaving messages about him into her web.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Realities of life for animals on a farm

E. B. White, Author

• Bio: 1899-1985; born in Mount Vernon, New York; earned his BA from Cornell University, where he was an editor of the Cornell Daily Sun; after working as a journalist for several years, published his first article in The New Yorker in 1925, joined the staff in 1927, and stayed with the magazine for the remainder of his career; known for his witty, direct style of writing; winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1963), the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now the Children’s Literature Legacy Award; 1970), and a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for Letters (1978), among other honors
• Other Works: Stuart Little (1945); The Elements of Style (with William Strunk Jr.