On The Features Of Charlotte’s Web As A Children’s Novel

Charlotte’s Web was published in1952, which was the masterpiece by E.B.White, a famous writer of children’s literature. The circulation of this book has beenup to50million copies; besides, it has been translated into more than10languagesand published worldwide. In1976, according to the survey among readers ofPublished Weekly, Charlotte’s Web held the first place in “American top ten children’sliterature”. Friendship between Wilbur and Charlotte is described successfully in thework. A kind of tender feeling is demonstrated in the novel to transmit correct values.This thesis discusses how the features of children’s novels, including educationalsignificance, readability, entertaining function and informative function, aredemonstrated through themes, language, the unique style and writing techniques. Thethesis consists of six parts.The author’s life and his works, the contents of Charlotte’s Web and the literaturereview both at home and abroad are shown in the Introduction briefly. The firstchapter focuses on four features of children literature, including educationalsignificance, readability, entertaining function and informative function. Theeducational significance of Charlotte’s Web is analyzed through the discussion of thethemes in Chapter2which shows how the narrator exposes the educationalsignificance of children literature from the themes of friendship, ecology, life anddeath. The readability of Charlotte’s Web is probed into in Chapter3through theanalysis of simple sentences, colloquial style and selection of words. The entertainingfunction of Charlotte’s Web is analyzed in Chapter4which argues that the authordemonstrates the entertaining function through personification, design of entertainingplots and illustrations.The Conclusion summarizes that Charlotte’s Web shows features of children’snovels successfully and speaks highly of its significant influence on children’s novelsand its artistic achievements.