This post first appeared on my former blog Nov. 3, 2010.
Most writers I know—and a lot of readers—revere E.B. White. Some love his Elements of Style, a crisp and timeless “how to” book on the craft of writing and his essays for The New Yorker. Others hold fond memories of his famous children’s books:Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web and Trumpet of the Swan.
Charlotte’s Web was a particular favorite story of mine as a kid. Which is pretty funny, since I have a healthy terror of spiders. But somehow, Charlotte A. Cavatica and, of course, Wilbur the pig totally won my heart. So, in 1974, at the age of 11, I was actually excited when my mom suggested we go meet Mr. White.
At the time, my mom ran a small new and used book shop in Deer Isle, Maine. This put us less than 30 minutes from Mr. White’s farm in North Brooklin. Mom wrote him, and he graciously invited us to come out one day.
I grew up in the suburbs, so to me a farm with sheep and chickens and geese was pretty cool. And I loved that he really did have a giant barn with a rope swing that reminded me of the great Garth Williams illustrations from the book.
Mom enjoyed a nice chat with Mr. White while I pretended to be Fern Arable and pretty much ran amok. Thank heavens Mom had the foresight to ask Mr. White to autograph my copy of the book. He even added a spider.
As an adult, I look back and cherish that day. E.B. White was an everyday farmer who happened to be a genius with words. His opening from Charlotte’s Web still grabs me:
“Where’s Papa going with that ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
I mean, seriously, how can you stop reading until you know about that ax? And once you find out he’s planning to do away with a runt piglet only Fern won’t let him, well, sign me up for the full story!
For lots of great links, including links to audio recordings of E.B. White reading from his stories, check out this New York Times post.
My favorite E.B. White quotes (more here):
“Be obscure clearly.”
“One of the most time-consuming things is to have an enemy.”
“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
“Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.”
“The only sense that is common in the long run, is the sense of change and we all instinctively avoid it.”
Now that I’ve waxed poetic about one of my childhood memories, what about you? Did you ever meet anyone famous when you were a kid? Where and when? On the flip side, what thoughts would you like to share about E.B. White?