83 pages 2 hours read

E. B. White

Charlotte's Web

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1952

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Introduction

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.

Related Titles

By E. B. White

Study Guide

logo

Here Is New York

E. B. White

Here Is New York

E. B. White

Study Guide

logo

Once More to the Lake

E. B. White

Once More to the Lake

E. B. White

Study Guide

logo

Stuart Little

E. B. White

Stuart Little

E. B. White