Today was the day we were all supposed to drop everything at noon and read a pre-selected passage of "Charlotte's Web."
I got an e-mail about this a few weeks ago from Walden Media, one of the companies involved with the new "Charlotte's Web" movie that opens in theaters this weekend.
"It is our hope that "Break a World Reading Record with Charlotte's Web" will introduce this wonderful story to a new generation and reintroduce the story to fans who haven't read it since childhood," is what my e-mail said.
But then at the bottom of the e-mail there's a picture of Dakota Fanning with this bold-faced line: "Opens in Theaters Nationwide on December 20, 2006."
What do you think? Is the real motivation behind the reading event to get children interested in the book ... or to drum up publicity for the movie?
You don't have to answer that. I decided not to get Seabury involved.
I've gotten a bunch of "Charlotte's Web" spin-off books in the mail recently. They make me sad.
As many children's books as I read and love, whenever I'm pressed to name my favorite, I'm loyal to Charlotte. My dad bought me my first copy, a discarded library version, for 10 cents, on his way home from birdwatching early one morning in Southern California. I
think I read it that day and many times after. I still have that first copy, ink on some pages, its nondescript tan cover falling off. If it was in our library, I'd discard it, too. But it's got a place in honor next to three nicer copies on a bookshelf in our living room. One is in Latin and two belong to my children. My dog is named Wilbur (that's puppy Wilbur at right) and if I'd had another girl child, I was planning to press for the name Charlotte. (One of my grandmas was also a Charlotte.) I still have not seen the cartoon movie version and neither have my kids, unless they've watched it at someone else's house.Here are two of the spin-offs:
The covers are cute and almost irresistable, but I hope parents will gather all their strength and try. If a child learns to read on watered-down "I Can Read" stories "inspired by" the real thing, will she still be able to feel the magic that I did the first time I read the book, or that my children did when I read it to them? The picture book uses E.B. White's actual words, but what's the point of amputating a chapter from a perfect book and making it into its own book? (Again, don't answer that. I know the point is money.) They did the same thing with Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books, making them into "early chapter" and picture books. Both are published by HarperCollins, but HC isn't the only publisher guilty of that stuff.
I actually don't have a big issue with movies made from books; films and books are separate art forms. This one is getting good early reviews. But even adults debate the question. Should I read the book first or see the movie?
One set of Seabury parents requires their son to read a book before he sees the movie. Last I heard he was well into "Eragon."
I did something similar when my daughter was about to turn 9. My kids' birthday parties were usually homemade affairs; we didn't go the roller skating; fun-plex route. (At least not until they were older and wore us down!)
But for this birthday, we promised we'd take her and a group of friends to see the new "Little Women" film, then come back to the house for a fancy tea party, if she'd read the book first. She did, so we did.
Okay, I think this was the worst thing I saw in my package of "Charlotte's Web" books.
I'm sure you know the original cover by the wonderful Garth Williams. (Incidentally, I also proposed Garth as a name for one of our boys.)
This is just wrong. Who, besides Dakota Fanning's family, would choose this over the book with its original charming cover? Maybe not even Dakota's family. I'm glad E.B. White and Garth Williams aren't around to see it.
Here's a link to a great essay on Charlotte's Web in the L.A. Times.
My last words on the subject. I'm not expecting that you won't take your children to see the movie. The weather is so bleak, after all, and we've got long vacation days coming. Just please promise me, you'll read them the book to them, too, or have them read it themselves.
It really is "terrific."
Talk to you soon
