Publishers Weekly lists the book as the best-selling children's paperback of all time.[1]
Plot
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
This book is about a little girl, called Fern "The Pig Saver" Arable, who is an ordinary farm girl. One day, her father’s sow gave birth to some piglets, Fern's father discovered one of them was a runt and decided to kill it. However, Fern wanted to let it live. Therefore her father had no choice but to give it to Fern as a pet, and she named the runt Wilbur.
He is hyperactive and always exploring new things. At first, he lived with Fern until he was about 5 weeks old. Then he was sold to the Zuckermans for 6 dollars. He was reasonably happy on the Zuckermans' farm. However, day after day, he was getting lonelier, and wept as he missed the times he had with Fern. Immediately after, a warm and soothing voice told him that she was going to be his friend. So the next day, he woke up and saw his new friend dangling in front of him: Charlotte the grey spider. Thereafter, they talked to each other and commented on each other’s personality to pass time.
After an old sheep told him that he was going to be killed and eaten, he cried again. He did not want to die and Charlotte thought of an idea to save Wilbur from his fate. She spun some words on her web, so Wilbur would be famous, a famous pig would not be killed. Thanks to Charlotte’s great idea, Wilbur was not killed. However, in the end, Charlotte died at the carnival alone. Before that, Wilbur repaid Charlotte by bringing the sack of eggs she had laid before dying back from the carnival with him.