Charlotte's Web Trivia
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48 free Charlotte's Web trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
This Charlotte's Web trivia quiz covers E. B. White's 1952 classic from the runt of the litter to the three spiderlings who stay behind. The easy questions are ones anyone who read it as a child could answer: the pig, the spider, the girl who saved him, the rat under the trough, the words woven into the web, and the fair where the story ends. The harder end is for teachers, parents and book collectors: Charlotte's full name and what it reveals about her species, the novelist White asked to identify his spider, the illustrator who first drew Charlotte with a woman's face, how many spiderlings hatch, the medal the book lost in 1953, White's own explanation that a book is a sneeze, the Sherman Brothers songs and Debbie Reynolds's voice in the 1973 cartoon, Julia Roberts and the Australian locations of the 2006 film, the 2003 sequel with a black lamb, and the 2025 miniseries. Stuart Little, The Elements of Style and the Newbery Medal get questions too. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for the novel, its author and its adaptations before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our children's books, classic novels and Roald Dahl quizzes next.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01When Wilbur breaks out of his pen, what finally lures him back inside?
A pail of slops
A pail of slops. A barnyard voice kept shouting that it was the old pail trick, appealing to his stomach, but Wilbur followed the food right back in.
Q 02Charlotte introduces herself to Wilbur with which greeting?
Salutations!
Salutations! Wilbur couldn't find her at first, until she told him to look up at the barn doorway, where she was waving a leg.
Q 03How does Fern stop her father from killing the runt?
She calls it an injustice
She calls it an injustice. Her father gave in, reasoning that raising the pig would teach her what trouble a pig can be.
Q 04What is the first phrase Charlotte weaves into her web?
Some Pig
Some Pig. People called the web a miracle, and visitors came from all over the county to see the pig.
Q 05Why does Charlotte reject the word 'Crunchy' that Templeton brings her?
It might remind people of bacon
It might remind people of bacon. Templeton had torn it from a magazine ad, and his next scrap, 'Pre-shrunk', didn't make the web either.
Q 06Where does Templeton find the word Radiant?
A box of soap
A box of soap. Its label promised 'new radiant action', so Charlotte had Wilbur show off some radiant action before she wove the word.
Q 07Which insects' song warns the barnyard that summer is ending?
The crickets
The crickets. As they sang, Charlotte warned Wilbur she might miss the county fair, because she had an egg sac to make.
Q 08What is the surname of the family whose daughter saves the runt piglet?
Arable
Arable. Fern fed the runt she saved several times a day, and he soon moved from a carton in the kitchen to a straw bed outdoors.
Q 09White's last lines call Charlotte a true friend and good what?
Writer
Writer. Wilbur befriended generations of her descendants, but none of them ever quite took her place in his heart.
Q 10To whom is Wilbur sold when he grows too big for Fern to keep?
Homer Zuckerman
Homer Zuckerman. He is married to Fern's aunt, so Fern could visit almost every day, sitting on an old milking stool beside the pen.
Q 11In the book Charlotte's Web, which animal first tells Wilbur he is being fattened to be killed?
The old sheep
The old sheep. It said even Fern's father was in on the plot, and as Wilbur sobbed, Charlotte promised she would save him.
Q 12Who is the first to read the message in Charlotte's web?
Lurvy
Lurvy. After the words appeared, the hired man was told to bed the famous pig on clean straw instead of manure.
Q 13Who is Fern's elder brother?
Avery
Avery. The ten-year-old once tried to knock Charlotte down with a stick, but lost his balance and fell before he could reach her.
Q 21Which novelist did White ask to identify the spider on his farm?
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov. He replied that he knew next to nothing about spiders and steered White to Willis Gertsch at the American Museum of Natural History.
Q 22In which state was E. B. White's farm, where he watched the barn spider that inspired Charlotte?
Maine
Maine. White once raised a pig meant for butchering, yet when it fell sick he fought to save it and failed, then wrote an essay about it.
Q 23How did illustrator Garth Williams first draw Charlotte?
With a woman's face
White suggested he simply draw a realistic spider instead.
Q 14Who is Fern's childhood sweetheart, with whom she spends the fair?
Henry Fussy
Henry Fussy. At the fair he paid Fern's way on the Ferris wheel, and she spent her time with him instead of by Wilbur's pen.
Q 15What is the name of the large pig who rivals Wilbur at the fair?
Uncle
Uncle. Charlotte disliked his coarse manners but saw at once that the huge pig was a real threat to Wilbur's chances.
Q 16What does Wilbur win at the fair?
A special prize from the judges
A special prize from the judges. Charlotte heard it announced over the loudspeaker and knew it meant Wilbur would never be butchered.
Q 17Where does Charlotte die, after helping save Wilbur's life?
Alone at the fairgrounds
Alone at the fairgrounds. Barn spiders naturally live short lives, and she was already dying by the time of Wilbur's big day at the fair.
Q 18What are the names of the three spiderlings who stay in the barn?
Joy, Aranea and Nellie
Joy, Aranea and Nellie. Wilbur and the three young spiders pledged each other their friendship forever.
Q 19What full name does Charlotte give Wilbur, revealing her species?
Charlotte A. Cavatica
Charlotte A. Cavatica. The name marks her as a barn spider, and she soon admits to Wilbur that she lives by trapping and eating flies.
Q 20In a bedtime story, what does Charlotte say one of her cousins once caught in a web?
A fish
A fish. Wilbur begged for more stories after that one, and Charlotte finally sang him a lullaby so he would fall asleep.
Q 24What does Templeton hoard under Wilbur's trough that later saves Charlotte's life?
A rotten goose egg
A rotten goose egg. When a boy poking at Charlotte with a stick fell onto the trough, the egg burst with a terrible smell.
Q 25Which other famous series did Garth Williams illustrate?
Little House on the Prairie
Little House on the Prairie. His own 1958 picture book, The Rabbits' Wedding, stirred controversy in Alabama for showing a white rabbit marrying a black one.
Q 26What is the famous first line of Charlotte's Web?
Where's Papa going with that ax?
Where's Papa going with that ax? Eight-year-old Fern asks it, and learns her father is on his way to kill the runt of the litter.
Q 27Dr. Dorian can't explain the words in Charlotte's web; what else does he admit he doesn't understand?
How a spider spins a web
How a spider spins a web. Fern's mother had come about the girl's odd behavior, and he asked whether Fern knew any boys.
Q 28What does Wilbur promise Templeton for fetching Charlotte's egg sac?
First pick of every meal
First pick of every meal. Templeton grumbled but fetched the sac, and Wilbur tucked it safely inside his mouth.
Q 29Which book beat Charlotte's Web to the 1953 Newbery Medal?
Secret of the Andes
Charlotte's Web was named a Newbery Honor book instead.
Q 30Which prize did White win in 1970 for his first two children's books?
Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal
Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal. In 2018 it was renamed the Children's Literature Legacy Award over language in Wilder's books seen as biased against Native and Black Americans.