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Beautiful Spiders: The Language of Charlotte’s Web by Amy Blaine
“I’m just so nervous!” Ms. P., a second grade teacher, confided to me as she stopped by the library one morning. “We’re reading that part today!”
I knew exactly what “part” of Charlotte’s Web she was referring to – that part, dear readers, when Charlotte dies. Or as I often refer to it: that damn chapter 21.
I cannot remember the first time I heard or read Charlotte’s Web. My father had read The Trumpet of the Swan to me as a child. My fourth grade teacher had read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with much gusto and expression. And by the time I got to college it was a vortex of Norton’s and Joyce and all the rest. But certainly not Charlotte’s Web.
So it wasn’t until last summer when I came to visit Charlotte again and in many ways, for the first time. The weather was unbearably hot. Too hot even for the pool. My two children and I sat piled together in the cool of the house and I began by reading that famous first line. We read Charlotte’s Web over the course of several days. My children sat, first here on the arm of the couch, then sprawled on the floor, sometimes with their heads in their hands, like Fern on her three-legged stool watching the goings-on in White’s beloved barn.
We came, at last, to chapter 21 and my voice wobbled. I cleared my throat, but it was too late. The tears came, so much so that I could barely continue.
“It’s the language!” Ms. P. told me the day after she had read that iconic chapter to her class. “The language is just so beautiful!”
We laughed as we shared that between her students and my children there was hardly a wet eye among them!
My own second and third graders patted my arm gently and asked, “Why are you crying, Mom?”. “The spider is dead!” I sobbed, realizing, even at that moment how ridiculous I must have sounded.
Ms. P. told me her students also looked at her sympathetically as she cried her way through those final, beautiful words, but handed her tissues as they begged her to read on.
Several days later, Ms. P. stopped by the library to show me the sympathy cards her students had made for Wilbur upon Charlotte’s death. One of the cards featured a picture of Wilbur, but this illustration was no ordinary stick figure drawing. I can only describe how the pig looked in one word: devastated. The picture was worth a thousand beautiful words. Ms. P. and I looked at each other, and we cried and smiled together at the power of language and the beauty of a child’s understanding.
Amy Blaine is a PK-5 librarian in Virginia. She tweets at @classicsixbooks
Nerdy Book Club 
I watched Disney’s Beauty and the Beast with my grandchildren. When we came to the part where Belle is picking out another book from the bookstore and choose one she has read numerous time, my mother exclaimed, “That was you and Charlotte’s Web”. She was right. Every other week I would return a book only to check out Charlotte’s Web again. It was and still is my favorite. I keep several copies on my shelves for my sixth graders. It is a book I will be bringing home to read to my granddaughter over Christmas break. Like you, I cry over chapter 21.
There is something so special about a book that can be read again and again. We know the story, but the language of the story never gets old! Thank you for reading and for sharing!
I’m smiling away as I read this post. I often read aloud to my daughter when she was younger, and always felt that if I felt like crying, I should. If you’re really engrossed in the story then you’re feeling the emotion of the moment, which is a great thing for a kid to see.
I read this part of Charlotte’s Web early one morning at the breakfast table, before heading out to work. I was crying away when Charlotte died, of course. In the midst of it all, our babysitter came into the kitchen and stopped dead, her hand to her mouth. “What’s wrong?” she asked with trepidation. “Has something happened?”
“No,” replied my four-year-old matter-of-factly. “My mom’s just reading.”
Wonderful story! It is something that reading words on a page can bring such a emotion. So powerful!
When I read Charlotte’s Web aloud to my older child a few years ago, I had to have my husband read “that damn chapter 21.” I couldn’t get through it!
Knowing what was coming, I started chapter 21 in a very determined fashion…but, like you, I couldn’t make it to the end! Thank you for writing!
Thank you, Amy, for capturing this experience so beautifully, and thank you for your sage and comforting advice as I prepared to read “that part” to my little ones! You are “SOME LIBRARIAN!”
Oh Chris….it is a pleasure and a privilege to work with you this year. Thank you for allowing me to share our conversations. Mwaa!
This brings back memories of reading to my fourth grade students and more recently to my kids. I’ve cried through many a story – Charlotte’s Web, Old Yeller, Summer of the Monkeys, to name a few. Thanks for this wonderful post. I’d love to have seen the devastated Wilbur condolence card. Precious!
Thank you so much for reading and for sharing the names of other books that have their own beautiful language. I have not heard of Summer of the Monkeys – I’ll have to look that one up!
I cry at the end of Winnie-The-Pooh also, when Christopher Robin goes off to school & leaves 100 aker wood! A friend gave me the audio of Charlotte’s Web, EB White reading, when my mother died. It was the sweetest support I could have had. It is the language, and perhaps the universality of what death means to us all. EB White spent a lot of time with spiders and loved them dearly. Perhaps that is why we understand the poignancy of Charlotte leaving, just as you say, the language. Thank you!
Yes, I am now reading The Story of Charlotte’s Web by Sims which promises to go into much detail about E.B. White’s extensive understanding of spiders. I’m looking forward to it. I love that Charlotte’s Web brought you such comfort when your mother died. Thank you for sharing your experience.
I adore this post, Amy! You’ve really captured the essence of and done justice to this classic. I think I’m overdue for a re-read of Charlotte’s Web, it’s been a few years for me…I, too, cry every time- you’re right, it is the language!
Hi Sylvie! Thank you so much for your comment. I was very nervous about writing this post as what more could possibly be said about Charlotte’s Web? Thank you.
Beautiful post…. I remember sobbing in front of my third graders while reading. The first time was Stone Fox, and then Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco (actually all of her books bring me to tears… It IS the language.
Thank you for sharing! For some reason the book “The Summer My Father Was Ten” chokes me up every time I read it to my students. I tell them I’m having “a moment.” : )
I had a hard time reading the end of Stone Fox one year. The last two paragraphs are so hard for me to read out loud. A Sixth grader took over for me so politely, while I composed myself on the deck. The class was in complete sympathy. I will never forget his kindness. Where the Red Fern Grows is another one I am careful on!
I have not heard of this book “Stone Fox”. I will have to look that one up as well. You are not the first person to tell me that with older students, they often take over the reading. I think that is wonderful. Thank you for sharing your experience!
EB knew spiders and he knew words. I still have my Elements of Style by Strunk & White. My sophomre, in college, has it on his book list for next semester.
The power of words, I wonder if he knew how enduring his would be.
I also have my Strunk & White sitting on my shelf! E.B. White is definitely one of those people I would name if asked, “And if you could have lunch with any author, past or present…” Thank you for your comment!
Thanks, Amy, for putting into words what we have all felt over decades. I forgive myself for having a shaky voice at passages in all sorts of read alouds to all ages of kids. Modeling honest emotions of special moments and language is a gift we can give to our kids. I have a copy of Charlotte’s Web waiting to give my granddaughter in a few short years, with the caveat that we share it together! “Read it and weep” could be a new and positive slogan for librarians and teachers for all ages!!
Oh, Lynn! I love your new slogan: “Read it and weep!” Your comment is just beautiful and I completely agree. Isn’t it wonderful to have someone to share Charlotte’s Web with?
I’m so glad to find out I was not the only one to experience the dry eyes as I turned into a puddle. I read Charlotte’s web to my 2nd and 3rd graders and got the incredulous looks as I blubbered through the infamous “damn chapter. I also cried like a baby at the end of Stone Fox. Again, the stares. I told my students that when they started to cry over books they’d be considered true readers. A few ended up in my class as 5th graders a few years later. Whenever anyone cried over a book I made a big fuss about welcoming them to the ranks of true readers.
Love your idea of tears as the “badge” of a true reader! You are the second person to mention Stone Fox! I need to investigate this book and read it over winter break (with a box of tissues, it sounds like). Thank you for sharing your experience!
I have never in my life cried so much over a spider. And then I watched the movie. That book gets added to the Never Read AGAIN list (along with Marley and Me). 🙂
I know, right?! A talking spider! Pish-posh! But yup, here come the water works! Thank you so much for sharing!
My second graders and I watched the 1972 film version of Charlotte’s Web today. They loved it but, when I inquired which they preferred –the book or the movie– a resounding chorus of “the book” echoed through the classroom! Ahh! The power of the written word and the beauty of excellent literature prevails!
As an addendum to the above post, when “that part” occurred on the video, all second grade eyes were upon me. “Are you crying, Ms. Payack?” No, I wasn’t crying. It just was not the same!
Ms. P., do you think the dialogue in the movie followed the language in the book closely? I also think the power of visualizing the story on ones own makes such a difference.
Ms Payack has always had a way with children. One that is sure to leave a life time impact. I am witness to this as well! I am now a 33yr old mother of two & one of Ms P students when she was a Teacher at the Robert F. Kennedy School in Cambridge mass. I have been trying to locate her for year’s now and when i came across this story i knew my mission was complete. Still so sensitive,loving and touching lives all these years later.
Oh, I am so glad you “found” her. Rest assured she is still working her magic – I see it every day.
My Dearest Shateria! Oh my goodness! Since I am not a social media subscriber, it is so heartwarming to know I can be found by my precious former students in places so meaningful!