When Mr. Arable's sow gave birth to a liter of piglets, he comes to find that there was a runt in the liter. He decided that he wanted to kill the runt, but his daughter Fern begs him to let it live. Mr. Arable gave the piglet to Fern as a pet and she named it Wilbur. Although he was a good little piglet, he was very curious and always got in to everything. Fern was able to keep Wilbur for a few weeks, and then Mr. Arable decided to give it to her uncle Homer Zuckerman. Fern visits Wilbur as much as she can, but he is still very lonely living in Zuckerman's barn. One night, a grey spider amed Charlotte came over to Wilbur and told him that she wanted to be his friend. All of a sudden, one of the sheep came over to Wilbur and told him that he was going to be killed and eaten at Christmas. The only thing Wilbur thought he could do was turn to Charlotte for help. Being that Charlotte wasn't able to talk to Zuckerman, she decided to weave certain words on her web that made Wilbur look like an excellent pig. Some of these words include terrific, radiant, and humble). Because of Charlotte's hard work, Wilbur not only gets to live, but him and Charlotte were taken to the county fair and won a prize. While they are at the fair, Charlotte ended up dying and Wilbur took home her sac of eggs that she laid before she died. Most of the spiders left the barn, but three of them stayed and became friends with Wilbur. However, Wilbur will always miss Charlotte.
This is a great book to use in the classroom because it will have the students recognize the importance of friendship. Friendship and loyalty are something that is very important in life, and this story depicts what it means to be a good friend. As an activity I would have the students write ten qualities a "good" friend would have, and then talk about who their best friend is and why. I would also have them characterize Charlotte and Wilbur and name a few characteristics and actions of each that makes them a good friend.
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