I was suddenly reminded of this lovely children’s book while perusing my shelves on authors beginning with “W”. Pete, a friend here on WordPress has just ended his posts on alphabetical listings of books and authors.
Charlotte’s Web.
I was not really that familiar with the story until my kids were growing up and we stacked on children’s books to read every night before they went to sleep.
E.B. White is the same author of the more familiar Stuart Little novel which was adapted into a movie not too long ago. Charlotte’s Web is a story of Wilbur, a little pig and Charlotte, a spider. It is a story of friendship, life, love and death. It’s full of lessons that we could all learn from.
There are several inspiring quotes from Charlotte’s Web, words of wisdom from a child’s book of fairy tales.
“Why did you do all this for me?’ he asked. ‘I don’t deserve it. I’ve never done anything for you.’ ‘You have been my friend,’ replied Charlotte. ‘That in itself is a tremendous thing.”
“I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”
“And then, just as Wilbur was settling down for his morning nap, he heard again the thin voice that had addressed him the night before.
“Salutations!” said the voice.
Wilbur jumped to his feet. “Salu-what?” he cried.
“Salutations!” repeated the voice.
“What are they, and where are you?” screamed Wilbur. “Please, please, tell me where you are. And what are salutations?”
“Salutations are greetings,” said the voice. “When I say ‘salutations,’ it’s just my fancy way of saying hello or good morning.”
“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.”
This is just as good as another children’s book, The Velveteen Rabbit which my kids and I love.
Charlotte’s Web is one of my childhood movie FAVORITES. Like, I couldn’t go a few minutes without quoting the book ☺.
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Thanks for appreciating it 🙂
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☺
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Can’t remember how many times I read this book to my kids. It’s one of my very favorite ones. 😊
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A wonderful book for children, right Sabine?
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Yes! One of the best books for children!
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I agree 🙂
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Oh yes, I loved this book when I was a little girl! Thank you – I shall have to add it too my list! 😺💕📚
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Nice to know that Samantha. Thank you 🙂
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This is one of the most enduring tales for children, Arlene,
Still as popular today as it ever was.
Thanks for mentioning my blog.
Best wishes, Pete.
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You’re welcome Pete, thank you too.
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Love it.
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Thank you.
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You are most welcome:))
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🙂
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“You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing.” This is probably one of my favorite lines from any book I have ever read. White’s style of childlike wonder combined with intricate description and prose really puts this book on another level above many children’s books for me. Great post!
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Thank you so much. Yes, I agree. It’s one lovely line about friendship.
Have you watched the movie adaptation?
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I did but that was quite some time ago when I was in elementary school.
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I watched it again and it was still inspiring as before.
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One of my favs as well. 💖
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I think it is a favorite for all of us.
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I loved that book. I thought of it recently when I saw an enormous pig on a local farm.
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Watched the movie on YouTube recently.
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