Unlikely friendships are a common theme in children’s literature, but none may be more unlikely than that of a spider and a pig.  That is exactly what happens in Charlotte’s Web, where Wilbur the pig is spared from slaughter at the insistence of the farmer’s daughter, who eventually outgrows his companionship.  The ever active Wilbur eventually finds himself with the spider Charlotte, who uses her web to write about how wonderful the pig is in the hopes that he wouldn’t be slaughtered.  It’s a book about great triumph, but most of all it is about the power of friendship and how it can change the lives of everyone involved.  “Some pig,” indeed!

~ Stephen Russ

Purchase "Charlotte's Web" here.