E.B. White

Leading American essayist and literary stylist of his time, E.B. White transformed his life experiences into unforgettable satire and children's literature. Elwyn Brooks White was born in 1899 in Mount Vernon, New York to Samuel and Jessie White. On White's twelfth birthday, his father said, "You are the object of the affectionate solicitude of your mother and father. Then you have been born a Christian. When you reflect that the great majority of men are born in heathen lands in dense ignorance and superstition it is something to be thankful for that you have the light that giveth life." (Samuel White)

This was definitely an inspiration for White. After he graduated college at Cornell University in 1921, he began working at places such as United Press, American Legion News Service, and the Seattle Times as a reporter. In 1924, he moved back to New York. He eventually joined the newly established New Yorker. He met his wife, Katherine Sergeant Angell, who also worked at the New Yorker. One of his first pieces in the New Yorker was: "Walden is the only book I own, although there are some others unclaimed on my shelves. Every man, I think, reads one book in his life, and this one is mine. It is not the best book I ever encountered, perhaps, but it is for me the handiest, and I keep it about me in much the same way one carries a handkerchief - for relief in moments of defluxion or despair." (White in The New Yorker, May 23, 1953) In the late 1930s, he turned to children's literature on behalf of one of his nieces. Stuart Little became E.B. White's first children's story. He was sleeping in a railway sleeping car and dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. It is the story of a young New Yorker named Stuart Little who had the "shy, pleasant manner of a mouse" and in his illustrations looks like a mouse. "When Mrs. Frederick C. Little's second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse." (Stuart Little 1945) Stuart is good natured, practical, modest and courageous and goes through many adventures while living with his family in New York City. Eventually, he sets out on a journey to find his friend Margalo, a bird saved by Stuart's family. As for Charlotte's Web, White had a barn in Maine that he enjoyed spending time in. He noticed the pigs the most, and frequently thought of how they could never escape their fate of eventually being killed. So he started thinking of ways how to save one. "I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm." White was awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his children's books Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web. In The Trumpet of the Swan, White stated he always wondered what it would be like to be a Trumpeter Swan and not be able to make the noise. The Trumpet of the Swan was honored by The International Board on Books for Young People as an outstanding example of literature with international importance.One of his best essays happens to be 'Once More to the Lake.'

"I am the holder of a quit-claim deed recorded in Book 682, Page 501, in the country where I live. I hold Fire Insurance Policy Number 424747, continuing until the 23 day of October in the year nineteen hundred forty-five, at noon, and it is important that the written portions of all policies covering the same property read exactly alike." (from 'About Myself', 1945) After World War II White became an enthusiastic editorial supporter of internationalism and the United Nations, publishing a collection of essays under the title The White Flag (1946). In 1963, President John F. Kennedy named White as one of thirty-one Americans