Talk:Charlotte's Web

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Amentis16, Night storms.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 17:15, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Possible Source of the main character's name?
Possible source of the name Charlotte? - something of an anecdotal tale, but this answer recently came up in a Quora debate:

https://www.quora.com/Air-Travel/Who-was-the-most-interesting-person-youve-ever-been-seated-next-to-on-an-airplane/answer/Scott-Welch?share=1&srid=iWO3

Is it worthy of inclusion?

Vandalism
I removed the follwing vandalism: this guy cant spell haha

"It should be noted that before being published, the book came under heavy fire for its anti-Semetic and anti-African American tones. In fact, Tempelton the rat claimed on page seventy nine: "The farmer is a filthy Jew who won't eat you anyway, Wilbur. It's true", and was also portrayed as a smooth talking black man in the body of a rat, who was often called "nigger" and treated unfairly by the other animals. The book was not allowed on the shelves in most bookstores and was kept in a brown paper bag in the ones that did carry it. Later, the book was edited due to poor sellings, but author I. B. Blight would claim until his death that the black man was constantly trying to keep him down." 66.102.74.46 08:23, 8 June 2005 (UTC)

More character information needed
I haven't read the book in years, so I'm certainly not qualified to do it, but someone who's more familiar with the story should write up at least a one-sentence description for each character. At the moment it's just a list. DearPrudence 04:36, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I just finished reading this book for the first time since I was kid. The character list here must be from the movie because many of the characters listed here are definitely not in the book and the Zuckerman's farm hand, "Lurvy" and Fern's brother, Avery aren't listed at all. abcgirl 22:14, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

A Series of Unfortunate Events
Shouldn't this article mention the references from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events to Charlotte's Web? 189.30.4.18 (talk) 00:00, 5 November 2007 (UTC)


 * No, those references belong on the Series of Unfortunate Events page; not this one. Carl.bunderson (talk) 23:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Importance scale
I'm going through some WikiProject Children's literature articles and I noticed that this article was rated High-importance. However, I think that it should be Top-importance, as it's a classic in children's literature. Any comments? Mr. Absurd (talk) 04:34, 15 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Makes sense to me. The article needs a lot of work.  I think it needs some indication beyond sales figures of its central place in American children's literature.  I tried to add something with the Welty quote, but it deserves some commentary on its style and structure.  I had some of what I'm talking about in there a long time ago, but it was just "something I read somewhere" and it's long since been removed as OR.  But there must be sources that can be cited with some reasonable commentary.  Anyone? Mark Foskey (talk) 03:03, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Foreign language titles
I've removed the section listing the translations of the title. I think it is sufficient to mention it was translated into many other languages, readers of this article aren't going to care what the title is in every language on earth, and this section was just adding unneeded clutter. Beeblebrox (talk) 18:32, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

Misplaced focus on films
The rewritten character descriptions seem to suggest that this is an article about two films (for example, comparing only how Wilbur is portrayed in them) when it is more properly about a book. The original characters from the book should be the focus of this article, with variations in the movie adaptations saved for... the articles about those movies. - Jason A. Quest (talk) 02:20, 20 March 2009. (UTC)

Help or Kill Pig
I don't know this book, and - I kid you not - at first thought it was about a spider trying to kill a pig, because of the ambiguity of "about a pig named Wilbur who is saved from being slaughtered by an intelligent spider named Charlotte" --82.171.70.54 (talk) 22:40, 4 September 2010 (UTC)

Hmm, still broken. Well, you know Wikipedia.. If it's terribly senseless information.. KEEP IT! If you add obvious facts such as humans requiring oxygen for survival.. NEEDS SEVERAL DOCUMENTED SOURCES OR YOU ARE VANDALISING!!!! 71.102.13.95 (talk) 05:36, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

This has been fixed, since its mention on xkcd. — Preceding unsigned comment added by DaveD-0101 (talk • contribs) 05:27, 27 July 2012 (UTC)


 * The xkcd mention is here, in the image's mouse-over. BunsenH (talk) 16:55, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

The fix, however, isn't ideal. I'd propose "Charlotte's Web is a children's novel by American author E. B. White, about a pig named Wilbur, whom Charlotte, an intelligent and friendly spider, saves from slaughter." This way we get rid of unnecessary and awkward pronouns. — Preceding unsigned comment added by CG ology (talk • contribs) 19:17, 27 July 2012 (UTC)


 * There seems to be an edit war going on about this. My opinion on the edit war is the following: the fact that an external source caught attention to an issue should not keep us from addressing said issue. In line with this reasoning and taking into account the two comments preceding the webcomic on the talk page, I think the ambiguity should be fixed. Moreover, I completely agree with 82.171.70.54: not knowing the book, at first I did not get the point xkcd was making until I read the fixed wikipedia article stating that charlotte was not the one performing the slaughtering. This indicates that the original phrasing was indeed misleading to me and could therefore be misleading to other people too.
 * I also think the current wording (last revision: 2012-07-28T09:28:05‎) is clear and I think CG ologys proposed edit has a high comma density which makes it look messy. PinkShinyRose (talk) 13:19, 28 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately I just read it as stating that E.B.White was saved from slaughter by a pig & a spider. Why not just stop at "Charlotte's Web is a children's novel by American author E. B. White." since all the other detail is repeated in the second paragraph anyway. Lekoshe (talk) 07:49, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

I have to say that I find this discussion about the ambiguity of the sentence highlighted by the xkcd comic highly amusing - and the ensuing edit war! Yet in spite of so many trying to remove the evidence, no one (as yet) has bothered with the following sentence which is possibly even more ambiguous: "When the old sheep in the barn cellar tells Wilbur that he is going to be killed and eaten at Christmas, he turns to Charlotte for help." Rednectar.chris —Preceding undated comment added 06:12, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

Edit request from, 9 October 2011
The links to the article about the cartoon movie are broken, because the movie was released in 1973, but all mentions of it say 1972.

166.137.12.28 (talk) 18:41, 9 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done I reverted the article back to the 1973 dates as that is what the current Wikipedia article is. --Jnorton7558 (talk) 01:44, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 12 June 2014
14.198.13.29 (talk) 09:24, 12 June 2014 (UTC)

If you want to suggest a change, please request this in the form "Please replace XXX with YYY" or "Please add ZZZ between PPP and QQQ". Please also cite reliable sources to back up your request, without which no information should be added to any article. - Arjayay (talk) 09:46, 12 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: as you have not requested a change.
 * Have done it stop lying 41.116.247.130 (talk) 19:23, 17 August 2023 (UTC)

This article needs a rewrite. Seriously.
"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 an Araneus cavaticus named Charlotte, living on a web overlooking Wilbur's enclosure."

Look, I realize that writing Wiki articles isn't the easiest thing in the world, but this is pretty terrible.69.138.181.203 (talk) 05:06, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

"Written in White's dry, low-key manner"...
That is sooooo opinionated.AnimaniacFan21 (talk) 19:57, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

Publication date
"The Story of Charlotte's Web: E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic" (2011) by Michael Sims puts the publication date on October 15, 1952. Rissa, Guild of Copy Editors (talk) 04:04, 7 June 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 11:23, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Addition of ISBN from Wikidata
Please note that this article's infobox is retrieving an ISBN from Wikidata currently. This is the result of a change made to Infobox book as a result of this RfC. It would be appreciated if an editor took some time to review this ISBN to ensure it is appropriate for the infobox. If it is not, you could consider either correcting the ISBN on Wikidata (preferred) or introducing a blank ISBN parameter in the infobox to block the retrieval from Wikidata. If you do review the ISBN, please respond here so other editors don't duplicate your work. This is an automated message to address concerns that this change did not show up on watchlists. ~ RobTalk 01:20, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 one external links on Charlotte's Web. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131207031123/http://www.fisherandfrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/rt-read-alouds.pdf to http://www.fisherandfrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/rt-read-alouds.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090208211607/http://www.salemstate.edu:80/education/mcba/ to http://www.salemstate.edu/education/mcba

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 14:57, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Charlotte's Web. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090113170224/http://www.bangormetro.com/media/Bangor-Metro/May-2007/E-B-Whites-Web/ to http://www.bangormetro.com/media/Bangor-Metro/May-2007/E-B-Whites-Web/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 17:33, 3 August 2017 (UTC)

Creating a Themes Section
Myself and a partner are planning on adding a Themes section to this page, since one is currently missing. We have already found 3 themes so far in our research, but may or may not find more to include. I will include a list of our sources below once I have them compiled. --Amentis16 (talk) 19:19, 18 April 2018 (UTC)

Possible list of sources (More to come):--Amentis16 (talk) 21:17, 18 April 2018 (UTC)

1- Kinghorn, Norton D. “The Real Miracle of Charlotte’s Web.” ''Children's Literature Association Quarterly'', vol. 11, no. 1, 1986, pp. 4–9., doi:10.1353/chq.0.0418.

2- Mills, Sophie. “Pig in the Middle.” Children's Literature in Education, vol. 31, no. 2, June 2000, pp. 107–124., doi:10.1023/A:1005178904342.

3- Misheff, Sue. "Beneath the Web and over the Stream: The Search for Safe Places in Charlotte's 	Web and Bridge to Terabithia." Children's Literature in Education, vol. 29, no. 3, Sept. 1998, pp. 131-141. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.valpo.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost .com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=11305724&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

4- Ratelle, Amy. “Ethics and Edibility in Charlotte's Web.” The Lion and the Unicorn, vol. 38, no. 3, Sept. 2014, pp. 327–341., doi:10.1353/uni.2014.0026.

5- Thomas, Trudelle H. “The Arc of the Rope Swing: Humour, Poetry, and Spirituality in Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White.” International Journal of Children's Spirituality, vol. 21, no. 3-4, 2016, pp. 201–215., doi:10.1080/1364436x.2016.1228618.

6- Anne Devereaux, Jordan. "Appreciating Charlotte's Web." Teaching and Learning Literature with Children and Young Adults, vol. 7, no. 2, 1997, pp.32. Night storms (talk) 23:46, 19 April 2018 (UTC)

7) Scully, Matthew. "Tangled Web; A children's classic, and the moral dimensions of animal farming. (The story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic)." The weekly standard. vol. 16, no. 39, June 2011, New York, N.Y. Night storms (talk) 01:37, 20 April 2018 (UTC)


 * Update**

We have just published what we created for the themes section. Feel free to provide feedback, etc. The themes we ended up focusing on were those of death, change, and innocence. --Amentis16 (talk) 18:16, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
 * hi, great work! the section you have added rounds the article out nicely. Coolabahapple (talk) 12:29, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

What Could Still Be Improved On
After having added a Themes section, the article's lead needs to have a summary of that info added to it since the lead is supposed to encompass everything that is included in the article. Also, the article still needs some copy edits to be completed to fix some grammar and sentence structure mistakes here and there, as well as statements that seem opinionated and not neutral. If anyone found more themes they could even add to that! Overall, there is nothing major that is still missing in the article and anyone can continue to contribute to the article and edit it in the future if they so choose. :) --Amentis16 (talk) 18:52, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
 * I think the article could talk more about the conflict in the book concerning killing farm animals. It doesn't really mention that.  Night storms (talk) 21:40, 6 May 2018 (UTC)

In the "Death" section, the euphemism "passes away" should be replaced with "died." Euphemisms = bad writing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.244.74.98 (talk) 01:47, 6 February 2019 (UTC)

Edit request 2020-08-25
"Death … of the spider, Charlotte's web.": should end with "Charlotte." Less obviously, I don't think it's appropriate to describe Wilbur as "thanatophobic" while he's in actual jeopardy of being slaughtered. 73.71.251.64 (talk) 00:59, 26 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Done. AJD (talk) 01:12, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

The gigantic turnip — Preceding unsigned comment added by 120.28.216.10 (talk) 10:59, 24 November 2022 (UTC)

Franchise.
To be honest, there should be an article about the whole Charlotte's Web franchise. FlapjackRulez (talk) 07:12, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: English 83S First-Year Seminar in English Section 002
— Assignment last updated by Mlk21 (talk) 16:35, 4 October 2023 (UTC)