1980; Harper Collins Publishers, New York; pictures by Garth Williams; smaller hardbound in decorative covers; book good condition - had previous owner's name penciled inside page (erased); clean unmarked pages; dust jacket good with a minor edge issues.
Description -
Charlotte's Web is a children's novel by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams; it was published on October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers. The novel tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages praising Wilbur (such as "Some Pig") in her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live.
Plot -
After her father spares the life of a piglet from being culled as runt of the litter, a little girl named Fern Arable nurtures the piglet lovingly, naming him Wilbur. On greater maturity, Wilbur is sold to Fern's uncle, Homer Zuckerman, in whose barnyard he is left yearning for companionship but is snubbed by other barn animals, until befriended by a barn spider named Charlotte, living on a web overlooking Wilbur's enclosure. Upon Wilbur's discovery that he is intended for slaughter, she promises to hatch a plan guaranteed to spare his life. Accordingly, she secretly weaves praise of him into her web, attracting publicity among Zuckerman's neighbors who attribute the praise to divine intervention. As time passes, more inscriptions appear on Charlotte's webs, increasing his renown. Therefore, Wilbur is entered in the county fair, accompanied by Charlotte and the rat Templeton, whom she employs in gathering inspiration for her messages. There, Charlotte spins an egg sac containing her 514 unborn children, and Wilbur, despite winning no prizes, is later celebrated by the fair's staff and visitors (thus made too prestigious alive to justify killing him).
Exhausted apparently by laying eggs, Charlotte remains at the fair and dies shortly following Wilbur's departure. Having returned to Zuckerman's farm, Wilbur guards Charlotte's egg sac and is saddened further when the new spiders depart shortly after hatching. The three smallest remain, however, and take up residence in the doorway where Charlotte used to live. Pleased at finding new friends, Wilbur names one of them Nellie, while the remaining two name themselves Joy and Aranea. The book then concludes by mentioning that more generations of spiders kept him company in subsequent years.