White, E. B.
CHARLOTTE'S WEB
New York : HarperCollins, 1999.
IL 3-6, RL 4.4
ISBN 0060282983

(2 booktalks)

A little girl (Fern) loves a pig named Wilbur. His friend Charlotte, a spider, saves him from the usual fate of being killed for food. The spider does this by writing little notes about Wilbur in her spider web that describe what kind of special pig he is. Everyone loved this pig and he became to famous to be killed. This is one of my children's favorite books. (Angie Newsom, college student)

Booktalk #2

Charlotte's Web is a Newberry Award winning classic book about love, caring, and friendship. Fern is a girl who lives on a farm that saved Wilber the pig from getting killed. The very first page says; "Where's papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
"Out to the hoghouse" replied Mrs. Arable. "Some pigs were born last night."
"I don't see why he needs an ax,"continued Fern who was only eight.
"Well," said her mother, "one of the pigs is a runt. It's very small and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your father has decided to do away with it."
"Do away with it" Shrieked Fern. "You mean kill it?" Just because it's smaller than the others"
 This modern fantasy book teaches the importance of caring and the friendship between Fern and Wilber and Wilber with the other farm animals, which keeps a balance between imagination and what we perceive as real. Charlotte, a spider living in a corner of a barn frame, told Wilber that she would always be his friend and be their for him when he needed her. Is her word good enough? Read this remarkable book to find out.  (Lauren Nayden, lr-nayden@wiu.edu, college student)