Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share 47. Charlotte’s Web.
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
47. Charlotte’s Web.
“What are you doing up there, Charlotte?”
“Oh, making something,” she said. “Making something, as usual.”
“Is it something for me?” asked Wilbur.
“No,” said Charlotte. “It’s something for me, for a change.”
“Please tell me what it is,” begged Wilbur.
“I’ll tell you in the morning,” she said. “When the first light comes into
the sky and the sparrows stir and the cows rattle their chains, when the
rooster crows and the stars fade, when early cars whisper along the highway,
you look up here and I’ll show you something. I will show you my
masterpiece.”
Charlotte’s Web is E.B. White’s beloved children’s book about a young and
humble pig named Wilbur, whose life is changed through the efforts of some
unlikely friends/mother figures—including Fern (a young girl), Templeton (a
selfish rat), and Charlotte (a wise and generous spider). Suzanne and Chris
read this book and think about the distinctions we make between people and
animals, and wonder whether there’s something about animal stories that make
them ideal for telling such poignant stories about death and time.
Content warning: Unsurprisingly, there is some discussion of animals dying in this
episode.
Show Notes.
E.B. White: Charlotte’s Web.
[Bookshop.]
Other books by E.B. White: Is Sex Necessary?: Or Why You Feel the Way You
Do (with James Thurber). Stuart
Little. The Trumpet of the
Swan. Elements of Style
(with William Strunk). Essays.
Letters.
Some essays by E.B. White.
Richard Adams: Watership Down.
Helen Macdonald: H is for Hawk.
T.H. White: The Once and Future King.
Graeme Base: The Eleventh Hour.
André Alexis: Fifteen Dogs.
Michael Field: Whym Chow: Flame of
Love.
Next: Virginia Woolf: Orlando.
[Bookshop.]
The Spouter-Inn is made possible by listeners like
you.
View all episodes
By Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Chris Piuma
4.8
3030 ratings
“What are you doing up there, Charlotte?”
“Oh, making something,” she said. “Making something, as usual.”
“Is it something for me?” asked Wilbur.
“No,” said Charlotte. “It’s something for me, for a change.”
“Please tell me what it is,” begged Wilbur.
“I’ll tell you in the morning,” she said. “When the first light comes into
the sky and the sparrows stir and the cows rattle their chains, when the
rooster crows and the stars fade, when early cars whisper along the highway,
you look up here and I’ll show you something. I will show you my
masterpiece.”
Charlotte’s Web is E.B. White’s beloved children’s book about a young and
humble pig named Wilbur, whose life is changed through the efforts of some
unlikely friends/mother figures—including Fern (a young girl), Templeton (a
selfish rat), and Charlotte (a wise and generous spider). Suzanne and Chris
read this book and think about the distinctions we make between people and
animals, and wonder whether there’s something about animal stories that make
them ideal for telling such poignant stories about death and time.
Content warning: Unsurprisingly, there is some discussion of animals dying in this
episode.
Show Notes.
E.B. White: Charlotte’s Web.
[Bookshop.]
Other books by E.B. White: Is Sex Necessary?: Or Why You Feel the Way You
Do (with James Thurber). Stuart
Little. The Trumpet of the
Swan. Elements of Style
(with William Strunk). Essays.
Letters.
Some essays by E.B. White.
Richard Adams: Watership Down.
Helen Macdonald: H is for Hawk.
T.H. White: The Once and Future King.
Graeme Base: The Eleventh Hour.
André Alexis: Fifteen Dogs.
Michael Field: Whym Chow: Flame of
Love.
Next: Virginia Woolf: Orlando.
[Bookshop.]
The Spouter-Inn is made possible by listeners like
you.
More shows like The Spouter-Inn
View all
This American Life
91,055 Listeners
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
4,008 Listeners
In Our Time
5,432 Listeners
Conversations with Tyler
2,424 Listeners
Philosophy Bites
1,543 Listeners
The TLS Podcast
185 Listeners
Chapo Trap House
8,844 Listeners
It’s Just A Show
48 Listeners
Radio Atlantic
2,308 Listeners
Stay Tuned with Preet
32,382 Listeners
You’re Not Funny
1 Listeners
And Thereby Hangs A Tale
1 Listeners
Why Theory
580 Listeners
Classical Stuff You Should Know
732 Listeners
Dear Reader
1 Listeners
This Is Your Mixtape
10 Listeners
By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien
32 Listeners
The Opposite Of Lonely
0 Listeners
A Part Of Our Scare-itage
7 Listeners
The Scene of the Scene
0 Listeners
HubrisWeen!
0 Listeners
The Rest Is History
14,407 Listeners
The Ezra Klein Show
16,083 Listeners
The Atlas Obscura Podcast
1,712 Listeners
Game Show 1939!
2 Listeners
The Opinions
548 Listeners