Vito Plantamura Plantamura itibaren Grasmere, ID 83604, USA itibaren Grasmere, ID 83604, USA

Since I just finished reading Charlotte's Web for the first time with my boys, I thought this would be a good "enrichment" reading for myself. I totally flew through the pages about the writing of Charlotte's Web, fascinated by such details as giving Charlotte her surname (Cavatica is the name of her species) and the reworkings of the story's beginning (so many drafts started at the barnyard, not with Fern). I loved that there was a real barnyard, a real Charlotte (who laid her eggs that White cared for in his New York apartment!), a real pig that inspired Wilbur. I thought it was interesting that White hated rats even though Templeton comes across as one of the most interesting characters to me. However, the other parts of the book were, frankly, not all the interesting to me. White's privileged childhood and seemingly charmed career didn't make for much drama. Maybe I've just been that I've spoiled after reading some pretty amazing biographies lately (Zamperini, anyone?). Interesting enough but not exactly a must-read.