50 Fun Facts About Charlotte's Web
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Take the 50-question quizWho wrote Charlotte's Web?
He also wrote The Trumpet of the Swan.
In what year was Charlotte's Web published?
Harper & Brothers released it on 15 October.
What kind of animal is Wilbur?
He was the runt of his litter.
What is the first phrase Charlotte weaves into her web?
Three more words follow as the summer wears on.
Which word does Charlotte weave on the goose's suggestion?
It begins the cycle of fame anew after the first phrase is destroyed.
Where does Templeton find the word Radiant?
The gluttonous rat lives under Wilbur's trough.
Which word does Charlotte weave at the county fair?
Templeton brings it to her at Wilbur's fair stall.
What is the surname of the farm family whose daughter saves the runt piglet?
Fern, the daughter, is the only human in the story who can understand animal conversation.
How many piglets were in Wilbur's litter?
Wilbur was the runt, born the night before Fern's plea.
To whom is Wilbur sold when he grows too big for Fern to keep?
He is her aunt's husband, so she can still visit.
Which animal first tells Wilbur that he is being raised for slaughter?
The scornful ram's offhand remark leaves Wilbur distraught.
Who is the first to read the message in Charlotte's web?
He is the hired man at Zuckerman's farm.
Who is Fern's elder brother?
Like Templeton he serves as comic relief.
Who is Fern's childhood sweetheart, with whom she spends the fair?
Her growing interest in him marks her maturing away from the barn.
What is the name of the large pig who rivals Wilbur at the fair?
Charlotte disdains the big rival for his coarse manners.
What does Wilbur win at the fair?
Charlotte realises the honour means Zuckerman will never slaughter him.
What is Charlotte's final request to Wilbur and Templeton?
She dies alone at the fairgrounds.
How many children hatch from Charlotte's egg sac?
All but three balloon away on silken threads.
What are the names of the three spiderlings who stay in the barn?
Wilbur always holds Charlotte in more esteem than any of them.
What full name does the spider give, revealing her species?
It reveals her as a barn spider, Araneus cavaticus.
What was White's original surname for the spider, after the Grey Cross spider's genus?
He dropped it on learning the genus had been renamed Aranea.
Which novelist did White ask to identify the spider on his farm?
The lepidopterist knew nothing about spiders and pointed him to Willis Gertsch at the American Museum of Natural History.
In which state was the author's farm, where he encountered the spider in 1950?
The barn that inspired the book has been kept off limits to the public at his wish; he asked a novelist friend to identify the spider.
How did illustrator Garth Williams first draw Charlotte?
White suggested he simply draw a realistic spider instead.
Who was Garth Williams's model for Fern?
She had been a toddler when the family escaped the Blitz.
Which other famous series did Garth Williams illustrate?
He also drew a dozen Little Golden Books.
What is the famous first line of Charlotte's Web?
Nancy Larrick praised its startling note of realism.
How did White explain, or refuse to explain, why he wrote it?
He had failed to save a real sick pig, an experience he described in a 1948 essay.
Which 1948 White essay recounts his failure to save a sick pig?
The novel has been read as his attempt to save his pig in retrospect.
Which book beat Charlotte's Web to the 1953 Newbery Medal?
Charlotte's Web was named a Newbery Honor book instead.
Which prize did White win in 1970 for his first two children's books?
It is a major prize for lasting contribution to children's literature.
Which critic wrote in The New York Times that the book was just about perfect and just about magical?
White's editor Ursula Nordstrom received the only manuscript copy.
What did Publishers Weekly name Charlotte's Web in 2000?
Publicity for the 2006 film claimed 45 million copies sold in 23 languages.
Which studio produced the 1973 animated film?
Sagittarius Productions co-produced and Paramount distributed.
Who voiced Charlotte in the 1973 film?
Paul Lynde voiced Templeton and Henry Gibson was Wilbur.
Which songwriting duo scored the 1973 film?
White's wife Katharine reportedly would have preferred Mozart.
Who was originally cast as Templeton before Paul Lynde replaced him?
Joe Barbera felt Randall lacked the raunchy feeling the rat required.
Who voiced Charlotte in the 2006 live-action film?
Dakota Fanning played the farm girl.
Where was the 2006 film shot?
The fair scene used a football ground in Heidelberg, Melbourne.
Who voiced Templeton in the 2006 film?
Cleese was Samuel the Sheep and Redford was Ike the Horse.
In the 2003 sequel, Wilbur befriends a black lamb with what name?
He must save the lamb from a fox named Farley.
Which composer wrote the music for the stage musical that premiered at Opera Delaware in 1989?
Joseph Robinette wrote the book; the show never played New York.
Who voices Charlotte in the 2025 HBO Max miniseries?
Jean Smart narrates and Elijah Wood voices the adult Wilbur.
What was the author's first children's book, published in 1945?
The Whites burned through eight illustrators before Garth Williams took the job.
Which writing handbook did White revise in 1959, first written by his Cornell professor?
William Strunk Jr. had published it privately in 1918.
For which magazine did White write for nearly six decades?
He was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize in 1978 for his letters, essays and body of work.
Which child actress played Fern in the 2006 live-action film?
The Paramount and Walden Media production, released December 15, 2006, was shot in Australia and spawned two separate video games.
Who narrates the 2025 HBO Max miniseries adaptation of the book?
The three-episode series from Sesame Workshop and Guru Studio was reported cancelled in 2022, but the Canadian studio kept it alive.
How many takes did White reportedly need to record Charlotte's death scene for the audiobook?
He would step outside, scold himself for weeping over an imaginary insect, then break down again on the next attempt.
Which Harper editor received the only existing manuscript when White walked into her office in 1952?
She read it soon after and loved it; the book was published on October 15, 1952, three years after White began writing it.
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