July 11th marked what would have been writer E.B. White’s 112th birthday. Born Elwyn Brooks White in Mt. Vernon, NY in 1899, the celebrated children’s author passed away in 1985 leaving behind a legacy of beloved stories. Stuart Little, The Trumpet of the Swan and the adored Charlotte’s Web have captivated children of all ages for decades. Publisher’s Weekly recently polled authors, publishers, teachers and librarians on the best children’s books ever published in the U.S., and Charlotte’s Web topped the list. Distinguished nonfiction writer Michael Sims pays tribute to White and delves into the creation of the iconic story of a spider and a pig in the new book The Story of Charlotte’s Web: E. B. White’s Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic.

According to an NPR article, the first portion of the book discusses details from White’s lonely childhood and his time at The New Yorker where he worked as a regular contributor to the magazine. The latter portion deals with the creation of Charlotte’s Web, and reveals that a real-life experience on White’s farm in Maine was what set the tale spinning. As the writer entered his barn on an early morning in 1949, he noticed a spider spinning an intricate web. Watching the spider over several weeks, he saw that she spun an egg sac, which he decided to take with him when he returned to New York. He kept the sac in an empty candy box on top of his bedroom dresser, and was charmed to see tiny spiderlings crawling about a few weeks later, spinning delicate webs between his toiletries.

The seed for the story was planted and White finished the first draft of Charlotte’s Web in 1951, though he did not immediately submit it for publishing. In a letter to his editor, he wrote: “I’ve recently finished another children’s book, but have put it away to ripen (let the body heat out of it). It doesn’t satisfy me the way it is and I think eventually I shall rewrite it pretty much.” The book was published in 1952 to widespread acclaim, and has been endearing readers ever since.