The first 4th grade literature unit of the year is an author study of E. B. White. After a close scholarly study of Charlotte’s Web (celebrating its 60th birthday this year), each student reads one or both of White’s two other children’s books, Stuart Little and Trumpet of the Swan. The culminating project is an E. B. White box. Here is the assignment the students received followed by the boxes themselves.
After doing a great job examining the similarities between E.B. White’s children’s books, you are now going to consider a theme for an E. B. White box. What is an E. B. White box, you might ask? It is a box inspired by the works of artist Joseph Cornell, an artist who created remarkable boxes and collages using all sorts of stuff. To learn more I will read aloud Joseph Cornell: Secrets in a Box and then show you a very special object — The Joseph Cornell Box: Found Objects, Magical Worlds. After that you will begin to create your own E. B. White Box! First of all, you will have to decide on a theme and create a quick plan for your box. And then you will begin to actually create it! When you are done you will have to write a brief essay describing your theme and how you represented it in your box. We will then put your box and your paragraph in two places — on the bulletin board outside our classroom and on this blog for everyone to see. Have fun!
I read two books by E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. Both of these books have a lot of change in them and that inspired me to do my box on change. In my box I have Wilbur in his box by the stove when he is a few days old then I have him in a larger pen in the yard when he is 2 weeks old. On the other side of my box I have Stuart when he is 5 years old next to a ruler and Stuart when he is 6 on the other side of the ruler. In the book Charlotte’s Web, Wilbur moves from the box next to the stove to the larger box under the apple tree because he is too big for the box by the stove. In Stuart Little, the book talks about Stuart getting older in almost every chapter. My favorite part of making my E.B. White box was thinking about how I was going to make my box and how it would represent my theme change.
I read Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little by E.B. White. Some of the characters I focused on were Wilbur, Charlotte, Stuart, and Margalo. I chose loyalty because Charlotte is very loyal to Wilbur because she is trying to save his life, and Wilbur also takes Charlotte’s egg sac and takes care of her babies. In Stuart Little, Stuart and Margalo are loyal to each other because Stuart saved Margalo’s life when Snowbell the cat tried to eat Margalo. Also went to find her, while Margalo rescued Stuart from the trash dump. I think that they are all in a way, loyal to each other. E.B. White has focused on many great qualities in his characters, that’s why he is an amazing author.
I read all three E. B. White books and realized that one of the main themes running through the books was that death is a part of life, and that life is good. In Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White shows how valuable life is. For example, when Wilbur is born Mr. Arable and then Mr. Zuckerman want to kill him, since he is the runt of the litter, but Fern stops them both times. She changed the way the men thought about killing the runt of any litter, not just Wilbur. In my box, I showed Wilbur’s non-runt brothers and sisters getting sold away, not killed.
In The Trumpet of the Swan, E. B. White shows the life cycle, including birth and death. First, Louis and his four brothers and sisters are born. They grow up, and Louis finds Serena. When their cygnets hatch, two generations of this book have been shown. At the end of the book, Louis’s father is referred to as “the old cob,” whereas at the beginning, he is known as just “the cob.” Also, Sam Beaver and his father are getting older throughout the book. In my box, I showed Louis, his brothers and his sisters hatching and learning how to fly at the beginning of their lives.
Last we come to Stuart Little. In Stuart’s tale, E. B. White shows how a little mouse can endure many treacherous situations that are deadly for a mouse Stuart’s size. When Stuart is chased by Snowbell, the cat, up into the window-shade, he veers near death hanging alone for so long. Margalo also flees from Snowbell because the cat is trying to hunt her too. In my box, I showed Stuart’s hat and cane in front of the old mouse hole, showing the deadly trick that Snowbell played on his family causing Stuart to be up on the window-shade for so long.
All three of these E. B. White masterpieces of children’s literature are phenomenal. They all show the theme of life and death running through them at some point. They are by one of my favorite authors, and they took a lot of effort, I am sure, to perfect the way they are perfected now.
In my E. B. White box the themes are seasons and changes. In my box I split it into four sections. In the Spring section I focus on Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web because Wilbur is a spring pig. In the Summer section I focused on Louis playing his trumpet from Trumpet of the Swan because Trumpet of the Swan takes place in the summer. In the Fall section I focused on Stuart Little next to his automobile from Stuart Little and in the Winter section I focused on Wilbur and the other farm animals in the snow at the farm from Charlotte’s Web. In Charlotte’s Web changes happen in two different ways. One way is the seasons change throughout the book. The second way is how the characters change throughout the book. Fern in the beginning was “only eight” and acted so little but by the end of the book she was more grown up and didn’t care as much for Wilbur as she used to and didn’t have as much time to take care of Wilbur as she used to. In Stuart Little the seasons change to but also Stuart gets braver. In the beginning of the book he was just a little old mouse minding his own business, but at the end of the book he is a braver mouse who is going on an adventure by himself to go look for Margalo his very good friend. In all of E. B. White’s books a big theme is changes. Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little and Trumpet of the Swan are very alike. All these books are based on animals and their friendship with humans. Fern from Charlotte’s Web, George from Stuart Little and Sam from Trumpet of the Swan are very alike. They all care for the animals, but throughout the book they grow up and change. E. B. White’s books are based on animals because E.B. White is an animal lover. E.B. White truly is a fantastic writer!
The theme of my box is love and it is found in E.B. White’s books Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. If you look carefully you can see a little girl and on the other side you can see a pig. They’re looking at each other with love. Just like George loves Stuart, Fern loves Wilber and Louis loves Serena. There is also a path with cobblestones that says E.B White. My box has a barn because Wilbur lives in a barn. If you look carefully you can see a spider web above Wilbur’s head that Charlotte lives in. There is also a fence around Wilbur’s yard so he can’t get out during the night. This shows love because if Wilbur escapes then everybody will be sad. There’s a mud pile for Wilbur so he can roll around. There’s some leaves on the ground too. There is also Charlotte’s spider web around the whole box because Charlotte saved Wilber’s life. E.B White is famous for writing so many great books!
In my E.B White box I created a theme of vocabulary because the characters in Charlotte’s Web and The Trumpet of the Swan (mostly Charlotte and the cob), use complicated words. The writing on Charlotte’s web (some pig, terrific, radiant, and humble) and the cob in The Trumpet of the Swan all say words that the other characters don’t know . They also create speeches that are long and perfect. Sometimes they seem unnecessary, like this quote from The Trumpet of the Swan, “A cygnet! A cygnet at last! I am a father with all the pleasant duties and awesome responsibilities of fatherhood. O blessed little son of mine, how good it is to see your face peering through the protecting feathers of your mothers breast, under these fair skies, with the pond so quiet and peaceful in the long light of the afternoon!” This quote was much longer than it could have been but, I think it’s good to be happy when you’re becoming a father. This is the way I created my E.B White box: When I made my box I started by finding a topic which was vocabulary for me. I made a swan, a spider, and a web, glued them in and I had a box. When I made my box I chose vocabulary as a theme because my favorite characters are the ones that talk a lot with words that are very different from what most people are normally hearing
This box is about modern things in 2012. I thought of this because it is now 2012 so I thought I should use Fern and Henry Fussy now because that would be nice to do. I decided to show Fern and Henry Fussy because they went on the Ferris wheel together and Fern ignored Wilbur at the time because they would only want to be together. I decided to make that but in the future when they will have jobs. And so on the floppy side, Henry Fussy is a security guard and Fern is just being herself holding an anticancer card. Henry’s assistant is looking very scared and putting her hand out as if she is saying halt! And on the rest of the box it is showing what they like. They like phones, rings, lions, Ben&Jerry’s ice cream, and they like the Sunday Business article. They also have a cat and a dog. I put a heart between Fern and Henry Fussy because they are in love. I mostly used newspaper clippings and I used a pipe cleaner and some tissue paper. I really liked making the box because I was just finding random pieces of newspaper images and if I really wanted it if it was going to make sense with the box.
My theme is changes. The two books that I read were Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. The characters that I focused on are Charlotte and Stuart and how they change a lot in the book. The characters change a lot in Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little because they are getting older and become different. “When are you going to spin a web? This afternoon, late, if I’m not too tired, The least thing tires me these days. I don’t seem to have enough I once had. My age, I guess.” This is a quote from Charlotte’s Web that shows changes in Charlotte. Stuart changes when he meets Margolo. A similarity between Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little are that both of the main characters are animals. Another similarity between Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little is that both of the characters change as the story goes on. You should definitely read Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web because they are different from other books. E.B. White uses details that you wouldn’t expect in his writing.
Part of my theme is a journal. It also has a “newspaper clipping” and little strips of paper which represent what E.B wrote.On one piece it says, “1952, Tomorrow Charlotte’s Web will be published.”Another says, “1945 Today Stuart Little my first children’s book was published.”The sides of the box have both quotes and ideas. My two favorites are, “1952 Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a class by herself.” and “1952 It is not often someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” I chose these quotes to express what E.B White might have been feeling when he wrote his books.
My E.B White box is about life and death. The scene on the Charlotte’s Web side of my box shows Mr. Zuckerman with an axe, going to kill Wilbur like he does to every pig on his farm. This represents what could have happened, but it didn’t because Charlotte saved Wilbur’s life. On the Stuart Little side of my box there are two ways life and death are represented. Snowbell tries to eat Margalo, but Stuart being Margalo’s friend gets his bow and arrow out and shoots Snowbell in the ear so he can’t eat her. It was very fun making my E.B White box especially creating the bow and arrow. I recommend reading the books Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web both by E.B White.
My box is about writing. I did this theme because both books make references to writing, like the words on Charlotte’s web or Louis learning to write on a slate so he can talk to humans. My two scenes are Charlotte’s web with “some pig” written on it from Charlotte’s Web, and Louis next to a chalkboard writing an A from The Trumpet of the Swan. Writing is one of the themes of Charlotte’s Web. The last sentences of Charlotte’s Web talk about writing, “It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.” All in all, I think EB White was an excellent writer.
My E.B. White box is about fame. It shows different scenes from the two books I read, Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. From Charlotte’s Web I made the scene where Wilbur becomes famous because Charlotte writes on her web that Wilbur is some pig. I made Wilbur in his pen, and above him is Charlotte in her web and the words some pig. Next to them are Fern, Avery, a dog, and a few other people from their town. In the background there are cars, a bike, a bus, a tractor, and a barn, representing the people who came to see Charlotte’s web. For Stuart Little, I made the scene where he becomes kind of famous by sailing a ship called The Wasp. I made Stuart in a sailor suit holding a telescope. In the background you can see two other sailboats competing in the race. E.B. White is a very good author.
Friendship is a very big and important theme in both books. I focused on Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. In my box I have Wilbur looking up at Charlotte in her web and and on the other side Margalo and Stuart are in the bookshelf of the Little’s house. Stuart and Margalo are very good friends and so are Charlotte and Wilbur. In Stuart Little, Margalo sleeps in a bookshelf, and in Charlotte’s Web, Charlotte lives in the doorway of Wilbur’s pen. The box was so fun to make and my favorite part was making the bookshelf. One of the many great quotes in Charlotte’s Web is, “It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.”
I read Trumpet of the Swan, & Charlotte’s Web both by E.B.White. I chose to make the theme of my box changes and similarities between the two books. I think that in the two books they both have a charecter that really wants to accomplish something and then they do but then as they start to accomplish it, they change along the way. In Charlotte’s Web Charlotte wants to save Wilbur from turning into pork or sausage but in the end she gets nimble and older then gradually starts to pass away. In Trumpet of the Swan, Louis can’t talk so his dad goes to get him a trumpet but then he gets hurt. I think that often in the E.B. White books the hero gets hurt. In Charlotte’s Web, Fern wants to hang out on the ferris wheel with Henry, however if she was younger, she would have wanted to hang out with the animals. In Trumpet of the Swan, all Louis wants to accomplish is to be able to talk, but as he gets older, he still wants to learn to talk but he will use it to talk to Serena, the swan of his dreams. That’s what I think are some changes and similarities.
Travel is a big part of The Trumpet of The Swan. The book The Trumpet of the Swan was written by E.B. White. When Louis the swan leaves his hatching place with his family to their new home, he can’t speak. The young Louis leaves his new home in search of work when meets his friend Sam Beaver who takes him to Ontario to be the camp bugler. He leaves with one hundred dollars in his money bag. Then Louis travels to Boston to be a swan boat trumpeter for one hundred dollars a week. Then he travels to Philadelphia for a job that will pay five-thousand dollars for ten weeks. Ten weeks later, our friend Louis, with his wife to be Serena, came to Philadelphia halfway between his ten weeks of work. Then a few months later, Louis and Serena head up north where Louis was hatched. I chose travel because it was a big part of The Trumpet of The Swan.
E.B. White’s stories Trumpet of the Swan and Charlotte’s Web include many similarities to each other, but the one theme in particular that really caught my eye was that both main characters started small, but ended up on top anyway.
In Louis’s case, he starts out a voiceless trumpeter swan, chasing after the beautiful swan Serena, who pays him no mind, not because she doesn’t care, but because he has no way to grab her attention due to the fact that he’s voiceless (lower middle to left). However, by the end of the book, Serena has fallen under the spell of Louis’s kind nature and countless unusual talents, and people had come from all around the world to hear his trumpet horn (lower far left).
In Wilbur’s case, he begins as the runt of the litter, just minutes from a horrible death by ax (miraculously, he survives). Later on in the book, he faces death yet again, this time by the people who had taken care of him for most of his life (lower far right)! Amazingly, by the end of Charlotte’s Web, Wilbur is Radiant, Humble, and most of all, Some Pig! Winning a special medal at the country fair, attracting countless visitors to Mr. Zuckerman’s small farm, and probably being the worlds first pig to become friends with a grey spider are only some of Wilbur’s many achievements (lower middle to left). It’s amazing that, although both of them were famous enough to wear red diamonds on their tails, neither of them ever get over their heads and continues to be their original, compassionate selves, meaning that they didn’t ask for red diamonds. Louis proved himself truly worthy and honest when he almost worked his tail feathers off to pay back the money that his trumpet (his most prized possession) had cost. Wilbur proved himself a true friend because when he found out that Charlotte was dying, he gave up most of all his meals to Templeton the rat, and in exchange, Templeton got Charlotte’s egg sac so Wilbur could keep Charlotte’s children safe. Food means a lot to a pig! Some say that when you do good things, good things happen to you, and these books prove it’s true!
I chose friendship for a theme because I think E.B. White made the characters in his books relate to each other really well. I chose these two scenes about friendship from the book because I think they were parts of the main idea of the books. The scene on the left is from Stuart Little and shows Stuart and his ‘’girlfriend’’ Harriot riding in a canoe near the water before it starts to rain. The scene on the right is from Charlotte’s Web and it shows Fern watching and loving the barn animals talk to each other in the barn cellar. E.B. White really loved animals so I think that’s why he included a lot about animals in his books.
