When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered, Charlotte writes messages in her web praising him, such as "Some Pig", "Terrific", "Radiant", and "Humble", to persuade the farmer to let him live.

In Zuckerman's barnyard, Wilbur yearns for Fern and is met with varying reactions from the other animals, with some, such as the motherly goose, showing him compassion, and others, such as the head ram, treating him with scorn.

One day, the ram offhandedly tells Wilbur that Zuckerman is raising him for slaughter and consumption, leaving him distraught.

As he mourns his fate, a barn spider named Charlotte, whose web sits in a doorway overlooking his pigpen, comforts him.

On the goose's suggestion, Charlotte weaves the word "Terrific" into her web, beginning the cycle anew.

In another effort to maintain the public's interest in him, Charlotte tells Templeton, a gluttonous rat that lives under Wilbur's trough and holds a contentious relationship with the other animals, to get another word for the web.

Templeton finds a laundry detergent ad with the word "Radiant", which Charlotte then weaves into her web.

As a result of this latest round of fame, Zuckerman enters Wilbur in the county fair, and Charlotte and Templeton accompany him.

The Arables also go to the fair, but Fern, despite still cherishing Wilbur, has matured, and instead spends time with her childhood sweetheart, Henry Fussy.

Charlotte weaves another word brought by Templeton, "Humble", into the web she spins at Wilbur's stall at the fair.

Charlotte, who has laid an egg sac at the fair, hears the presentation of the award over the public address system and realizes that the prize means Zuckerman will cherish Wilbur for as long as he lives and will never slaughter him.

According to Norton D. Kinghorn, Charlotte's web acts as a barrier that separates the two worlds of life and death.

[5] Scholar Amy Ratelle says that through Charlotte's continual killing and eating of flies throughout the book, White makes the concept of death normal for Wilbur and the readers.

Jordan Anne Deveraux also explains that Wilbur and Fern each go through their changes to transition from childhood closer to adulthood throughout the novel.

[13] His editor, Ursula Nordstrom, said that one day in 1952, he arrived at her office and handed her a new manuscript, the only copy of the book then in existence, which she read soon after and enjoyed.

[25] Charlotte's Web has become White's most famous book, but he treasured his privacy and that of the farmyard and barn that helped inspire it, which have been kept off limits to the public according to his wishes.

[31] Nancy Larrick brings to attention the "startling note of realism" in the opening line, "Where's Papa going with that ax?

"[37] Bantam released Charlotte's Web alongside Stuart Little on CD in 1991, digitally remastered, having acquired the two books for rather a large amount.

[36] In 2005, a teacher in California conceived of a project for her class in which they would send out hundreds of drawings of spiders (each representing Charlotte's child, Aranea, going out into the world so that she can return and tell Wilbur of what she has seen) with accompanying letters; they ended up visiting a large number of parks, monuments, and museums, and were hosted by and/or prompted responses from celebrities and politicians such as John Travolta and then-First Lady Laura Bush.

[38] In 2003, the book was listed at number 170 on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's 200 "best-loved novels".

[39] A 2004 study found that it was a common read-aloud book for third-graders in schools in San Diego County, California.

[40] Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association listed it as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children.

[42] In 2010, the New York Public Library reported that Charlotte's Web was the sixth most borrowed book in its history.

Paramount Pictures, with Walden Media, Kerner Entertainment Company, and Nickelodeon Movies, produced a live-action adaptation, starring Dakota Fanning as Fern and Julia Roberts as the voice of Charlotte, which was released on December 15, 2006.