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E. B. White

E. B. White
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 9 to 12
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.16

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    eulogy, satirical, web-spinning, disposition, sawing, textbook, ardent, banging, elwyn, mandolin, substantial, spite, inspiration, literary, salvation, loyalty
     content words:    Elwyn Brooks White, Mount Vernon, New York, Nicholas Magazine, Cornell University, New Yorker, Katherine Sergeant Angell, Joel McCoun White, North Brocklin, Stuart Little

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E. B. White
By Colleen Messina 		  
1     When you read Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, you will never look at spiders or pigs in the same way again. In Charlotte's Web, a literary spider named Charlotte saves a pig named Wilbur from the butcher's block with her clever, web-spinning schemes. The author himself explained how the inspiration for this children's classic started in his own barn:
 
2     "As for Charlotte's Web, I like animals, and my barn is a very pleasant place. One day when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because like most pigs, he was doomed to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save a pig's life. I had been watching a big grey spider...Gradually, I worked the spider into the story...of friendship and salvation on a farm."
 
3     Elwyn Brooks White was born in Mount Vernon, New York on July 11, 1899. He was the youngest child in a large, happy, Christian family. He began to write as soon as he could spell. He couldn't draw well, so he turned to words to express himself and was always writing. The White household owned many musical instruments even though no one had much musical talent. E.B. especially loved banging on the piano. He also enjoyed strumming on the mandolin and sawing on the cello.

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