The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic

by Michael Sims, Nick Sullivan (Narrator)

While composing what would become his most enduring and popular book, E. B. White obeyed that oft-repeated maxim: "Write what you know." Helpless pigs, silly geese, clever spiders, greedy rats--White knew all of these characters in the barns and stables where he spent his favorite hours as a child and adult. Painfully shy, "this boy," White once wrote of himself, "felt for animals a kinship he never felt for people." It's all the more impressive, therefore, how many people have felt a kinship with E. B. White.

Michael Sims chronicles White's animal-rich childhood, his writing about urban nature for the "New Yorker," his scientific research into how spiders spin webs and lay eggs, his friendship with his legendary editor, Ursula Nordstrom, the composition and publication of his masterpiece, and his ongoing quest to recapture an enchanted childhood.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Books About Books, Writing, Biography Memoir, History, Audiobook

Audible Audio

First published June 7, 2017

About the author

Michael Sims is the author of the acclaimed "The Story of Charlotte's Web, Apollo's Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination," "Adam's Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form," and editor of "Dracula's Guest: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories" and "The Dead Witness: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Detective Stories." He lives in western Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: As he was composing what was to become his most enduring and popular book, E. B. White was obeying that oft-repeated maxim: "Write what you know." Helpless pigs, silly geese, clever spiders, greedy rats-White knew all of these characters in the barns and stables where he spent his favorite hours. Painfully shy his entire life, "this boy," White once wrote of himself, "felt for animals a kinship he never felt for people." It's all the more impressive, therefore, how many people have felt a kinship with E. B. White. With Charlotte's Web, which has gone on to sell more than 45 million copies, the man William Shawn called "the most companionable of writers" lodged his own character, the avuncular author, into the hearts of generations of readers.

In The Story of Charlotte's Web, Michael Sims shows how White solved what critic Clifton Fadiman once called "the standing problem of the juvenile-fantasy writer: how to find, not another Alice, but another rabbit hole" by mining the raw ore of his childhood friendship with animals in Mount Vernon, New York. Translating his own passions and contradictions, delights and fears, into an al-time classic. Blending White's correspondence with the likes of Ursula Nordstrom, James Thurber, and Harold Ross, the E. B. White papers at Cornell, and the archives of HarperCollins and The New Yorker into his own elegant narrative, Sims brings to life the shy boy whose animal stories--real and imaginery--made him famous around the world.

My Review: The well-studied life of Andy and Katharine White, The New Yorker's original power couple, would seem to be infertile territory for new and original uses of its rich, deep material. There have been books and books on the magazine, on the couple, on the people that they knew and the world they both created and lived in. But no one until now connected Andy, nature, and Charlotte's Web, arguably one of the 20th century's most influential children's books.

Sims does this unusual job deftly, providing us with the bare facts of Andy's life, expanding upon those facets that serve his thesis that E.B. "Andy" White was less a social maladroit than a man in love with the natural world, and not greatly interested in most of the manufactured world around him; this slantwise perspective is what allowed the shy guy to see the story he would write, where others would merely have killed the pig for supper and brushed the web aside on the way out of the barn.

Due attention is given to the work life and the marriage of the man, and since that's well-trodden territory, the author leaves it in bare-bones form. I agree with this decision because it lets him get to the more involving parts of the story: Why did Charlotte come to be? What forces shaped the story, where did they come from, and how did this book make its journey from brainstorm to commercial success? Here is Sims's strength: He never bloviates about His Ideas, he distills a prodigious amount of reading, thinking, and talking into a nuanced, interesting, and immersive read about a book that, I suspect, most of us remember quite clearly encountering for the first time.

I disliked Stuart Little as a boy. I'd seen the dog give birth before I read it for the first time; I told my mother, "That story's stupid, she couldn't have had a baby that small alive." Mama looked at me a minute and said, "You're a very practical person, aren't you daaahlin?" (My mother was Southern.) She then gave me Charlotte's Web. I was forever changed. Death entered my world. I don't mean awareness of it; I mean the *experience* of death, when Charlotte dies, was completely and utterly real for me. Absence. Empty space where before was an important life. Re-reading the book, as I did three or four times, couldn't make death go away. Charlotte was gone, that was that, no way was she coming back and her daughters weren't her. It took some time to recover from this blow.

And then several things happened: 1) I found out the same guy wrote this wonderful book as the dumb mouse-boy book. 2) I suddenly, in a great flash, realized that stories require readers to live, and even if Charlotte was dead, the story wasn't. 3) Maybe Stuart Little wasn't as bad as I thought it was, because the same guy told it! (Actually, I still think it's stupid, and I don't like it to this good day, forty-plus years later.)

So this book arrives from its publisher, all pretty and invitingly designed, and it's about a book that changed my worldview, and it's got that great new-book, ink-and-paper smell; well, what else to do but put down everything I was reading and all the chores I should be doing, curl up on my breezy, cool sunporch, and immerse myself in the story of the story I've adored for most of my life?

I am so very glad that I did. I feel refreshed and energized, ready to take on my own storytelling tasks with renewed vigor. The book isn't life-altering, or possessed of an outsized grandeur, or elucidative of the Mysteries of the Ages, so I can't make a case for perfection; but to anyone who, as a sensitive child, was altered by that first encounter with Charlotte's Web, I recommend this book as a balm for your worn-out, worn-in adult soul.

[Lori Keeton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this biography since Charlotte’s Web is one of my all time favorite children’s books. EB White wrote 3 children’s books, Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, are among some of the most well-known literature for children.

In this book, Sims provides a glimpse into the childhood of Elwyn Brooks White (he grew up in Mount Vernon, NY) and gives us a sense of him being an anxious child whose love for animals and writing began to blossom. Into adulthood, E.B., nicknamed Andy, continued his anxious and melancholic manner as he experienced awkwardness with girls. The World Wars affected him yet escaped him as he never served, and he eventually became a staff writer in the very beginnings of The New Yorker magazine. He met his wife there, married his editor, 7 years older than he was. They spent their lives split between Manhattan and their farm in Maine.

Always the friend of animals and nature, Andy’s triumph with Charlotte’s Web came straight from his life on the farm and his melancholic experience with the duplicitous nature of raising and caring for his animals only to eventually slaughter them. The story of Charlotte’s Web came directly from his own experiences on his farm.

Sims tells the story of the book that has become the bestselling children’s book in the United States and is truly beloved by so many people. I learned what his writing process looked like and how Andy created his characters and the painstaking research he did on spiders so that he could get Charlotte’s nature just right. He wanted all of his characters to be true to their natures.

E.B White will always be a favorite of mine and I enjoyed learning about him through this author’s perspective. I also enjoyed reading about the other people and children’s authors that were important at the time and who may have been personal friends of White’s – James Thurber, for example. So, when you pick this up, you will learn about the man who wrote the story about the pig and the spider and more!


All writing is both a mask and an unveiling.

[Chrissie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book about the author of a book I loved: Charlotte's Web. It is about how that book I loved came to be. It is not written with the charm nor the humor of that original book. Sims' book is interesting. It tells not only of E.B. White's career; he worked for many years at The New Yorker. The story is filled out with information about prominent children's authors and illustrators during the first half of the 20th Century. If that is what you are looking for you may appreciate this book more than I did. Parts are flat, boring and stuffed with irrelevant details. Neither did I love the narration by Nick Sullivan. The book doesn't pull you in, doesn't engage you or make you care in the slightest for any of the characters. It reads like a dry text book....but sure there are interesting facts.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a few months old when E. B. White's classic children's book Charlotte's Web was published. My First Grade teacher read the book aloud to my class. As a girl, I read it many times, and when our son was born I read it to him as well. And the older I become the more I realize the impact the story had on my life.

Knowing my esteem for the book, my son gifted me Michael's Sims book Charlotte's Web: E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic for Christmas. It was a lovely read, entertaining and enlightening.

White had a love of nature and animals. As a child, his family spent their summers in Maine, and in spite of his allergies, it was the highlight of the year. As an adult, he and his wife Katherine purchased a farm in Maine--with a view of Mount Cadalliac on Mt. Desert Isle across the water. My husband and I spent many summers camping at Acadia National Park! It is a beautiful area.

White admired the popular columnist Don Marquis who created the characters Archy--a cockroach--and Mehitible--a cat. White liked how Marquis kept his animal characters true to their nature while using them for social satire. Archy inspired the character of Charlotte.

I was a teen when I discovered Marquis on a friend's parent's bookshelf. I borrowed the book and later bought my own copy.

White's first children's book was the best-selling Stuart Little, illustrated by Garth Williams who was just beginning his career. Williams was established by the time he contributed his art to Charlotte's Web. He created beloved illustrations for Little Golden Books and authors like Margaret Wise Brown and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I enjoyed the details about White's writing process. He worked on the novel over a long period, carefully considering every aspect, even setting it aside for a year. He researched spiders in detail. He sketched his farm as a model. He thought carefully about what words Charlotte would spin into her web. White hated rats, and kept Templeton's nature intact without a personality change. Fern was a later addition.

Sims reproduces the text from the manuscripts with White's editing. I am always fascinated by seeing an author's edits and the development of a story.

White's name was also well known to me as it appears on The Elements of Style, which started as a pamphlet written by White's professor Strunk!

White's wife Katherine wrote a column on gardening, Onward and Upward in the Garden, which was published in a book form after her death--and which I had read upon its publication!

[Moira]

Worth reading for the descriptions of White's careful research and his early drafts alone, although a lot of the book captures that kind of tremulous, not-sad but lump-in-the-throat feeling I especially associate with the end of Trumpet of the Swan:

On the pond where the swans were, Louis put his trumpet away. The cygnets crept under their mother's wings. Darkness settled on woods and fields and marsh. A loon called its wild night cry. As Louis relaxed and prepared for sleep, all his thoughts were of how lucky he was to inhabit such a beautiful earth, how lucky he had been to solve his problems with music, and how pleasant it was to look forward to another night of sleep and another day tomorrow, and the fresh morning, and the light that returns with the day.

Or as another nature poet put it:

Thus sang the uncouth Swain to th' Okes and rills,
While the still morn went out with Sandals gray,
He touch'd the tender stops of various Quills,
With eager thought warbling his Dorick lay:
And now the Sun had stretch'd out all the hills,
And now was dropt into the Western bay;
At last he rose, and twitch'd his Mantle blew:
To morrow to fresh Woods, and Pastures new.

[Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sweet book. I thought that if I was E.B. White's wife & he wrote me a letter from the dog's perspective to tell me that he was happy I was pregnant because he was too shy to tell me himself, I might be angry, but I guess if I was E.B. White's wife that wouldn't be unexpected behavior. I didn't realise what a lovely poet he was. Look for me to be reading Charlotte's Web on my lunch break.

[Sheila · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried to grit my teeth and get through this thing, but gave up on page 77 (thru 78) where it took Michael Sims 4 paragraphs to tell us Mr. White had picked up the first issue of The New Yorker at Grand Central Station on his way to work. Dear Mr. Sims, E.B. White co-authored a work of non-fiction with William Strunk, Jr. called "The Elements of Style" for writers. It's all of 89 pages and well worth your time.

[Jaylia3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who is a fan of E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web or who is interested in the writing process will find the long, detailed sections describing its creation fascinating. While I usually enjoy learning about the inspiration behind works of literature this account had too much minutiae for me. There were other parts of the book, however, that I found a lot more engrossing. I loved reading about life in the northeastern US during the early years of the last century, when automobiles were replacing horse-drawn vehicles and White’s father proudly bought a car but never learned to drive it, when a fancy teenage date meant an afternoon of tea, cinnamon toast and dancing at the Plaza Hotel, and when people flocked to the new Childs restaurants because they were inexpensive, fast and, at a time when people were newly afraid of germs, gleamingly clean. It was also a revelation to read about the early days of The New Yorker from E.B. White’s quiet, quirky perspective—most of the other accounts I’ve come across have been in books about the rowdy members of the Algonquin Round Table.

[Casey Kiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful insight on how E.B. eased into his fascination with animals and won over our hearts with the timeless classic, Charlotte's Web. 'Gradually, in early childhood, Elwyn became aware that animals were actors themselves, living their own busy lives, not merely background characters in his own little drama.' -pg. 17

'There were secretive animals in Elwyn's life as well. His many childhood illnesses included hay fever and other allergies. Once, while he was sick in bed, a fearless young house mouse not only visited him in his bedroom but proved interested enough to this large but quiet neighbor to gradually become a tamed pet. Elwyn supplied him a house and watched rapt as the mouse explored with its tiny paws and turned its dark eyes to look at him. He even taught him several tricks.' -pg. 12

I really enjoyed learning about how his connection with creatures affected him in a unique way as a bridge to human relationships. In particular, with Katharine Angell, who was his co-worker and editor at The New Yorker, and to whom he wrote a love letter that likened his love for her to the loyalty of a spider weaving its web. The poem is 'Natural History'.

'Over three decades of his life, he had spent more time watching spiders than he had experiencing romance. Now, with the easy acceptance of anthropomorphism he had learned in his childhood, he used one to see the other more clearly.' -pg. 117

The pictures are wonderful, including Katharine holding pigs that inspired the character of Wilbur and even a peek at the first page of his first draft of the book! Recommended!





'

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son brought Charlotte's Web home when he was in the second grade. My husband and I read it and were swept away by its magical prose, so I was excited to receive this biography as a gift. Michael Sims did a great job of research and tying in all the elements of E.B. White's life that went into the making of Charlotte's Web. This book is a fine tribute both to E.B. White and to Charlotte.

[Monica Edinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific. My blog review is here.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite authors so I enjoyed all the back story to Charlotte's Web and his other works.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biographies can be quite cut-and-dry and boring and read like a book of facts and figures rather than an intimate portrait. With The Story of Charlotte’s Web, it felt like I was reading a work of fiction filled with beautiful descriptive passages and an inviting, warm tone. I really liked Michael Sims’ writing and am interested in reading more by him now. He pulled me into the story and I kept getting lost in White’s world. Sims takes the reader on a journey from E. B. White’s beginnings as an awkward, curious boy named Elwyn who was fascinated but terrified of girls, and who found comfort and stability in the animals of his family’s barn. White grows up to be a still slightly self-conscious but much more confident man nicknamed Andy with a flourishing writing career and a loving family. Throughout his life, he is always noticing and musing over animals everywhere he goes, even in the busy streets of New York City where pigeons assemble on sidewalks to preen and squabble. I really liked this quote from White:

New York is part of the natural world. I love the city, I love the country, and for the same reasons. The city is part of the country . . . People are animals, and the city is full of people in strange plumage, defending their territorial rights, digging for their supper.

Sims’ extensive research is obvious in his detailed descriptions of all the locations where White lives at different stages of his life. You can practically see and smell the barns where White loved to spend the majority of his time. Sims also includes quotes and excerpts from various newspapers, magazines, and books that White submitted and sometimes got published, as well as incidents and anecdotes from his abundant journals and notes. There are several black-and-white photos of Elwyn’s boyhood home (which is gorgeous) in addition to his and his wife’s Katharine’s family home in Maine. More pictures would’ve been nice, especially of Elwyn as a boy and teenager, but I guess the one of the cover is sufficient (it’s very cute – you gotta love those ears). I learned a lot about E. B. White that I had never known. I had no idea his family was so well off and that he lived such a privileged and comfortable life; he always had at least a couple of servants around the house, even in the middle of the Depression. Another tidbit is that Stuart Little was inspired by a dream White had about a mousy little boy, and it took him six years before he finally wrote it down as stories for his nieces and nephews and then allowed it to be sold as a book. It was exciting reading how Charlotte’s Web took form – the way Sims describes White researching and pulling information together, it’s like he was weaving his own little web. It makes sense now that he would write so much and so lovingly about animals because he had a plethora of pets his whole life (domestic and otherwise). They made sense to him, and in times of confusion or unhappiness, they were always there for him. If you’ve ever read Charlotte’s Web and treasured it, you’ll almost certainly take pleasure in this inside look at E. B. White and his masterpiece.

[Caren · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was in the third grade (in 1962-3), my beloved teacher, Miss Stout, read us "Charlotte's Web". I was so enchanted, I remember the feeling of sitting in that wooden desk, hearing the tale of Wilbur and Charlotte and Fern unfold, as a vivid highlight of my elementary years. Surely that experience must have contributed to my passion for books today. Miss Stout married at the end of the school year and moved away to Kalamazoo, Michigan (which sounded like a Dr. Seuss sort of place to me). Years later, I read the book to my own children. It holds as much magic for adults as it does for children, which seems to me to be one of the qualities of a classic. So, I read this account of the life of Elwyn Brooks White (later known as 'Andy') with great interest. This careful, introspective, supremely literate man observed nature and animals closely all his life. The book layers, step by step, the places and events that culminated in this beloved book. Along the way, you get to meet other literary lights of the first half of the twentieth century, and see the development of "The New Yorker" magazine, where E.B. White worked from its inception. I found it quite amusing that the esteemed librarian of the children's department of the New York Public Library, Anne Carroll Moore, disliked both "Stuart Little" and "Charlotte's Web"--- this at a time when children's publishing catered to the dictates of children's librarians! Meanwhile, "Charlotte" got high praise from the likes of Eudora Welty, Bennett Cerf, and P. L. Travers (author of "Mary Poppins"), along with letters from countless children.I was struck by what an introvert Mr. White was, a quality not particularly valued in American culture. How fortunate he was to find a professional life that so suited him and that nurtured his considerable talent. (White is also, by the way, the White of Strunk & White's "The Elements of Style".) If you are at all interested in literature and publishing during the first half of the twentieth century, you will enjoy this book.

[Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this to my mom--a retired elementary school teacher--for Christmas, and she so dogged me to read it myself that I finally checked it out of the library to make her happy. I especially enjoyed reading the beginning chapters recounting EB White's upper-middle class childhood in early 1900's Mt. Vernon, NY. His was a happy family, though he himself showed early signs of neurosis from the get go. If you can be nostalgic for a period in which you never lived, then I was. As I read these early chapters, I longed for his idyllic life, so close to nature, yet close enough to the big city that its marvels were accessible too. The other aspect of the book I particularly enjoyed was the name-dropping: EB White's life intersecting with the famous journalists and writers of the thirties and forties. Michael Sims writing is only serviceable, which made reading the book less enjoyable than I had hoped. Maybe there just wasn't enough to EB White's life to make much of a story to tell. Toward the end of the book, which focuses on his writing of Charlotte's Web, his illustrator, Garth Williams, comes into the story. It made me think about all the other beloved books of my childhood that were illustrated by him, including Cricket in Times Square and the Little House series. I Googled Garth (That would make a cool title!) and looked at images of his illustrations. What an experience that was! Each little square resonated with my memory, as I am sure I probably held every single Golden Book and all the others in my hands at one time! I really did feel some strange sense of time travel to my past, which produced a transcendent sense of connectedness. I guess in the end I recommend this book for its evocativeness more than anything else, and that may work mostly for people of a certain age.

[The Library Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have never read anything about E.B. White--his collected letters, his essays,etc, you will get a pretty good view of the man here. But if you have, most of the material Sims works with is stuff you already know.

The two things I really enjoyed about this was the part that really was about what is in the title of this book, the "Story of Charlotte's Web". Lots of interesting details here. And the end of the book, involving White's son Joel and a group of schoolchildren, is extremely moving.

I highly recommend that anyone who wants to learn a lot more about White and his world read Letters of E.B.White and his essays in One Man's Meat. This is a nice bio, but White is the better writer.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I told my sister I was reading an excellent biography of E. B. White that focused on the evolution of Charlotte’s Web. She said, “That is a perfect book for you.” Anyone who knows me knows about the special place in my heart where E.B. White’s magnum opus lives. Learning about his early life among farm animals and other wildlife and the intense appreciation White had for the animals on his own farm was a wonderful context for the chapters that outlined the actual painstaking research and meticulous process of putting all the pieces together to come up with this timeless tale. I’ve read Charlotte’s Web to my little sister, to my son, to my grandchildren and to countless primary grade classrooms full of appreciative children. It never gets old.

[Elsa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography covers all of E.B. White's life, but is oriented toward how his life prepared him to write CHARLOTTE'S WEB. I was glad I came out of it loving Mr. White and his book just as much as I did when I started.

[Conrad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of Charlotte’s Web finds its roots in the boyhood of its author, E.B. White. This author does a good job of tracing his development as a writer and the genesis of the story. What I found particularly interesting was the amount of research he did into the nature and habits of spiders so that his novel would have a level of authenticity to it. This is probably why Charlotte’s Web became such a beloved classic. Having recently stayed in Brooklin, MA, seen his home there and visited the Blue Hill county fair, I have a greater appreciation for his story now.

[Jennifer Stringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't remember who said that a book worth reading at 10 years old should be worth reading at 50 yrs old. Maybe C.S. Lewis? Anyway, E.B. White did that with Charlotte's Web. Friendship, compassion, mortality and the purpose of life all covered in the farmyard. Michael Sims biography of the the writer explores how the book came about. Well-researched and concise writing - I thought it could use a few photographs, especially of the actual barn that the book was based on or perhaps reprints of the illustrations when that portion was discussed. Would recommend to anyone interested Charlotte's Web.

[Marge Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

A delightful telling of the life of E.B. White. Although it was somewhat hindered with the over telling of every single detail of his college life and the beginning years of his publishing career.
I recently listened to Charlotte's Web on a road trip with my 6 year old granddaughter. And this book popped up on my search. It was well worth the read. I then followed up this book with listening to Stuart Little. I am personally very grateful for the writings of E.B. White.

[Marsha Herman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am convinced there will never be another book as masterfully written as Charlotte’s Web. When the book was first published over 70 years ago it’s very first review read…”What the book is about is friendship on earth, affection and protection, adventure and miracle, life and death, trust and treachery, pleasure and pain and the passing of time. As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done.” As someone who has devoured the book at least a dozen times, I couldn’t agree more. Reading Michael Sim’s account of the life of E.B. White and how Charlotte’s Web came to be was fascinating and made me even more of a fan.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only “eccentric” aspect of E.B. White’s life, in my opinion, is its normality. He doesn’t appear to have been a schizophrenic or an alcoholic—and, still, he managed a long career as a successful writer! And, even more startling, I actually read a biography about him. Most biographies of famous people seem to be filled with interpersonal drama—usually of an unhealthy variety. Young writers get the impression they’re supposed to be emotionally damaged if they want to develop even a modicum of talent.

Although anxious in crowds and shy with females, White hardly seems unusual or unstable. In New Yorker essays, he depicted his fears in a humorous tone. Worrying about high speed public transportation, he coined the term “locomotophobia” as “fear that the [commuter train’s] engineer is dead” (91). But, really, who doesn’t worry about accidents when careening at speeds beyond our own control? White wasn’t so phobic that he refused to ride.

On a related note, Michael Sims suggests that White may have been mildly hypochondriacal, although I couldn’t determine how seriously I should take such claims. White suffered from allergies, stomach upset, occasional dizziness during his lifetime. At times he was a little down. At times, he seemed stressed. He may even have experienced some anxiety attacks. Lots of people do. I got the impression that Sims might be making much of White’s ills simply because he had so little trauma to report!

Perhaps, it was White’s healthy respect for the natural world that sustained him through eighty some years of life. His marriage (of almost fifty years) was happy. His essays and children’s stories continue to be taught.

Of greatest interest to me were 1) Sims’ chapter on the nature writers (John Muir, John Burroughs, William J. Long, Ernest Thompson Seton), who influenced the young White’s desire to treat animal life with respectful realism 2)the chapters devoted to the farm experiences and research that contributed to the composition and revision of Charlotte’s Web. Sims traces White’s notes to his sources, closely teasing out details of spider anatomy and behavior that might be overlooked by those who rush over detail in their haste to discover plot.

Although I can’t say that White’s prose ever rendered me sensible of the pleasures of farmyard manure(195), I can say that his depiction of Charlotte has contributed to my equanimity in the presence of arachnids of most kinds. Once, discovering a black widow in her web, not far from our country cabin, I invited my husband’s attention, expecting to share equal wonder at the rare vision. Not as swayed by childhood literature, he instinctively stomped before I could intervene. The result will forever remind me of the famous ballooning scene, in which Wilbur witnesses the birth of Charlotte’s aeronautical babies. My husband's foot inadvertently provoked baby black widows (they're really red) to burst from that web. Teeming in the hundreds,they seemed a veritable diaspora.

Thanks to E.B. White for contributing to my peace-of-mind in rural environments—and to Michael Sims for reminding me of the way words can weave a marvelous web.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

See this review on 1776books.net...
http://1776books.blogspot.com/2011/09...

I would bet that there is not a person alive who has not read, or at least heard of, Charlotte's Web. It is consistently ranked as the bestselling children's book of all time. Let those words sink in...OF ALL TIME. I remember reading it back when schools divided their reading groups into the "Bluebird" group, and the "Red Robin" group. There is a reason that the story of Charlotte, Wilbur, Templeton, and Fern is so popular with both children and adults alike...it is timeless.

Even though the title of Sims' book is The Story of Charlotte's Web, it is not just about that. It is the story of author E.B. White's life, born Elwyn White. The White family lived in Mount Vernon, New York, but spent many a summer in Maine. From the beginning of his life, White was very uneasy around people, especially girls, and loved nothing better than to be with animals. I take exception to Sims' subtitle, E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic. I am not sure that I would define him as eccentric just because he preferred nature to everyday life. I think that he was able to find himself this way, and fortunately for us, he did. Otherwise, would we have a Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swan, or Charlotte's Web? Probably not.

The most fascinating part of this book is reading the research that went into writing Charlotte's Web. Even though White was writing about fictional animals (but sometimes basing them on real-life counterparts), he wanted to be as accurate as possible (in Charlotte's egg-laying, for example). Just as fascinating is when legendary illustrator, Garth Williams, joins the team. Sims states that Williams' original drawing for the cover fetched $155,000 at auction.

The setting of Charlotte's Web is based on the White farm, still a running farm in Maine. White chose to live in a bucolic setting, most comfortable in his appreciation of the animals. If that is "eccentric", then lucky for us, that's what he was.

MY RATING - 4

[SheilaRaeO · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am such a huge fan of E.B. White, and of course Charlotte’s Web as well as Stuart Little are two of my top favorite books from my childhood. Anxious to learn more about this beloved author, I was excited to receive “The Story of Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White’s Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic”. I enjoyed the small glimpses into his life from childhood through his death at age 86. The frustrating thing to me however, was the habit Sims had of throwing in snatches of a story and then just letting it go without ever carrying it through. I wanted to know more. Such as the passage starting at the bottom of page 60 that reads:

“He never tried to further his acquaintance with Mildred elsewhere, but his thought kept returning to her bright eyes and graceful ankles. One evening after skating with her, a chilled but happy Elwyn rode the trolly home. For some time, the Summit Avenue house has been empty of other children. Quiet Marian had been married for more than a decade....”

What? So what happened with Mildred? We never really hear about her again except for a brief reference to Elwyn packing the strap that they had each held one end of as they skated that night, to take with him to college. There were several times the author dropped in noteworthy tidbits, but left them shortchanged by not fully explaining their relevance or even completing the thought. Like some of the stories flew in from left field.

The glimpses into his writing process were where it really got interesting. Learning about the actual farm in Main and the barn and animals that were the setting for the book was fascinating. I loved seeing photos of the drawings White did as he was conceptualizing the farm where Wilbur and Charlotte lived. The great fascination with spiders and the insistence on accuracy in portraying the orb weaver spider, all worked together to be the great strength of this book.

I now look forward to re-reading Charlotte’s Web with a whole new perspective and be charmed all over again.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sims begins this biography with "The coachman said the eggs would never hatch." And right away, the reader enters into the natural, sensual world that E.B. White inhabited. Born in 1899, White was closely connected to the natural world. He was a detail person, lover of words, shy, socially awkward, better at writing his feelings than saying them out loud. Sims captures so much of the inner White and weaves anecdotes and quotations seamlessly into this work. I did find the first section (White’s childhood) slow, but by the time I got to Part III: Charlotte, I was immersed in White’s life and could luxuriate in the story of how the erudite White morphed from NEW YORKER columnist to children’s fiction hero.
This is also the story of children’s literature at a certain point in time, when Ursula Nordstrom reigned as editor, Anna Carroll Moore was a tigress librarian in NYC, and when White’s books were first published, they were read more by adults than children. Sims’ books is filled with glimpses of those bygone days and of the wonder that White spent long years writing his books, then Garth Williams (young and relatively unknown) completed all the artwork for CHARLOTTE’S WEB in three months!
Anyone who loves children’s literature should make time to live with some of the “greats” in the field: White and those with whom he rubbed elbows.

[Kressel Housman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who loved Charlotte's Web or is interested in the writing process and/or literary history will want to read this bio of E.B. White. If you've suffered from shyness, the book may also be of interest, as E.B. White seems to have been what they call "painfully shy." Remember that date that Stuart Little had? It seemed like such a perfect match, but Stuart completely flubbed it. Well, that was E.B. White's initial approach to women, though somehow he figured things out because he did get married and have a son.

It was especially fascinating to learn how the last line of Charlotte's Web came about and also interesting to read about the great editor Ursula Nordstrom, who I knew of from my reading about Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane. The most moving part of all comes at the end, but I won't spoil it for you.

There was one prominent librarian who panned both Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web. Well, I agree with her on the former. She said it was "not fit for children," and with the dating bit and the unresolved ending, I have to agree. But I can never agree on the latter. Who wouldn't love such a perfectly constructed narrative, so well-researched, and yet so moving? No wonder it's the #1 most popular children's book of all times!

[Vontel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great biography for bedside reading! After a while, it moved from just bedtime reading. Fascinating book, well written, about his life and work. I had no idea that he was an early and ongoing writer for The New Yorker, and later also for Harper's Bazaar, or that he wrote Stuart Little, and before Charlotte's Web. I also didn't realize he was the 'White' of Strunk and White's 'Elements of Style', and many more books and collections of his essays. This book situates him well within his life and experiences, including the farm he and his wife(also a key figure at The New Yorker) bought in Maine, and leads to a much greater understanding and appreciation of the genesis of 'Charlotte's Web'. There is an extensive section of notes and bibliography section at the end, and I am now tempted to delve further into white's other writings.

Of some interest, the 'Freddy the Pig' books (a series I remember fondly )are mentioned within the discussion about whether there were other pigs in children's books, and I didn't realize that author was from a relatively close geographic area.

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

White's quiet reserved life made for hard reading. Basically, in chapter after chapter not a lot happened. I could have handled this, but the author had trouble getting into White's head, despite all the paragraphs that seemed to linger there. The narrative felt like it was uncertain about itself and where it was going. There were a lot of good solid crumbs tossed out for me, but that just tells me that the book might have been better at half its length, or in a different organization, or something. Crumbs do not a whole loaf make.
I've come back to add a star, and for this reason: it's one of my bigger peeves how a book ends as opposed to how it begins. As much as this book lacked spirit, and replaced an understanding context with extraneous research, it did get better by the end. As subjective and inconsistent as I can be about reviews, a book gets a star just for ending better than it began, so there we go.

[Yellowoasis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially I thought this book too long-winded in its approach, telling the story of E B White from his childhood days. However, I realised that all this background was leading up to his writing the book we all know and love. Many of his experiences were incorporated into the story: his love of rural life, his detailed observations of the natural world, are all in there. And for any aspiring writer, it shows the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to write the 'perfect' novel. He reworked and revised the book many, many times, and it's truly humbling and inspiring to realise that novels such as this don't just appear out of thin air fully formed, they are the product of years of experience and sheer hard work. Just lovely, it made me rush upstairs to my home library to read through the book again.