Plot Summary
After sparing the life of a baby piglet almost slaughtered due to his status as runt of the litter, a little girl named Fern Arable adopts it and nurtures it lovingly, naming it Wilbur. However, she is crushed when the piglet matures enough to be separated from his mother, and Wilbur is thus sent to reside on a farm owned by Fern's uncle, Homer Zuckerman. Her powerful attachment to Wilbur mutual, the pig is left yearning for companionship but is snubbed by other barn animals. However, he is welcomed by an unseen voice who promises to befriend him, vowing to reveal itself to him in the morning.
The voice is revealed to belong to a spider named Charlotte living on a web spun overlooking Wilbur's enclosure. Knowing of Wilbur's impending doom (as the Zuckermans plan on slaughtering him) she promises to hatch a plan guaranteed to spare his life. Sure enough, the following morning the Zuckermans are flabbergasted to catch sight of the words "SOME PIG" woven into the spiderweb, attracting great recognition and publicity. Understanding that Wilbur's chances of survival will be strengthened if similar miracles were to occur, Charlotte employs the assistance of Templeton the barnyard rat in gathering labels as inspiration for her spiderweb messages. As time passes, more and more engravings continue to appear on Charlotte's webs concerning Wilbur's value, attracting increasing notoriety and publicity. Soon Wilbur is entered in the county fair, accompanied by Charlotte and the gluttonous Templeton, aware of the discarded foods littered along the fair grounds, and, while there, Charlotte spins an egg sac containing her unborn offspring---which she refers to as her "magnum opus"---that is heavily guarded by Wilbur. However, the pig is crestfallen when the spider notifies him of her impending death and mentions that she is to pass away before long, staying behind at the fair and dying after Wilbur's departure. Heartbroken, Wilbur guards Charlotte's egg sac, and is saddened further when the new spiders hatch and depart shortly after their birth, leaving behind three spiderlings too young to leave just yet. Pleased at the thought of finding new friends after Charlotte's demise, Wilbur names the spiderlings Joy, Nellie, and Aranea, and the book concludes mentioning that more and more generations of spiders continued to arrive with time to keep Wilbur---who is now safe from death---company.
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