Name: E. B. White
Also Known As:
Elwyn Brooks White (full name)
Date of Birth: July 11, 1899
Place of Birth: Mount Vernon, New York
Education:B.A., Cornell University, 1921
Awards: Presidential Medal for Freedom, 1963; Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, 1970; 
National Medal for Literature, 1971; Sequoyah Award and William Allen White 
Award for The Trumpet of the Swan, 1973; 
American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1973

E.B. White, the author of twenty books of prose and poetry, was awarded the 
1970 Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for his children’s books, Stuart Little and 
Charlotte’s Web.  This award is now given every three years "to an author or illustrator whose books, 
published in the United States, have, over a period of years, make a 
substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children."
 The year 1970 also marked the publication of Mr. White’s third book for children, 
The Trumpet of the Swan, honored by The International Board on Books for 
Young People as an outstanding example of literature with international importance. 
In 1973, it received the Sequoyah Award (Oklahoma) and the William Allen White Award (Kansas),
voted by the school children of those states as their "favorite book" of the year.

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Mr. White attended public schools there. He was graduated from Cornell
University in 1921, worked in New York for a year, then traveled about. After five or six years of trying
many sorts of jobs, he joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine, then in its infancy. The connection
proved a happy one and resulted in a steady output of satirical sketches, poems, essays, and editorials. 
His essays have also appeared in Harper’s Magazine, and his books include One Man’s 
Meat, The Second Tree from the Corner, Letters of E.B. White, The Essays of E.B. White and Poems and
Sketches of E.B. White.

In 1938 Mr. White moved to the country. On his farm in Maine he kept animals, and 
some of these creatures got into his stories and books. Mr. White said he found 
writing difficult and bad for one’s disposition, but he kept at it. He began Stuart Little
 in the hope of amusing a six-year-old niece of his, but before he finished it, she had 
grown up.

For his total contribution to American letters, Mr. White was awarded the 1971 
National Medal for Literature. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy named Mr. White as 
one of thirty-one Americans to receive the Presidential Medal for Freedom. Mr. White 
also received the National Institute of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Essays and Criticism, and in 1973
the members of the Institute elected him to the American Academy 
of Arts and Letters, a society of fifty members. He also received honorary degrees 
from seven colleges and universities. Mr. White died on October 1, 1985.

Dear Reader:
I receive many letters from children and can't answer them all -- there wouldn't be time 
enough in a day. That is why I am sending you this printed reply to your letter. I'll try 
to answer some of the questions that are commonly asked.

Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little and for Charlotte's Web? Well, many years 
ago I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed 
about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That's how the story of Stuart Little got started.

As for Charlotte's Web, I like animals and my barn is a very pleasant place to be, 
at all hours. One day when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for
 the pig because, like most pigs, he was doomed to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways
to save a pig's life. 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. 
Three years after I started writing it, it was published. 
(I am not a fast worker, as you can see.)

Sometimes I'm asked how old I was when I started to write, and what made me want
 to write. I started early -- as soon as I could spell. In fact, I can't remember any 
time in my life  when I wasn't busy writing. I don't know what caused me to do it, or 
why I enjoyed it, but I think children often find pleasure and satisfaction is trying 
to set their thoughts down on paper, either in words or in pictures.
I was no good at drawing, so I used words instead.
 As I grew older, I found that writing can be a way of earning a living.

Some of my readers want me to visit their school. Some want me to send a picture,
 or an autograph, or a book. And some ask questions about my family and my animals 
and my pets. Much as I'd like to, I can't go visiting. I can't send books, either -- you can find them in a
bookstore or a library. Many children assume that a writer owns (or even makes) his own books.
This is not true -- books are made by the publisher. If a writer 
wants a copy, he must buy it. That's why I can't send books. And I do not send 
autographs -- I leave that to the movie stars.
 I live most of the year in the country, in New England. From our windows we can 
look out at the sea and the mountains. I live near my married son and three grandchildren.

Are my stories true, you ask? No, they are imaginary tales, containing fantastic 
characters and events. In real life, a family doesn't have a child who looks like a mouse; 
in real life, a spider doesn't spin words in her web. In real life, a swan doesn't blow
 a trumpet. But real life is only one kind of life -- there is also the life of the imagination.
And although my stories are imaginary, I like to think that there is some truth in 
them, too -- truth about the way people and animals feel and think and act.

Yours sincerely,

E.B. White

"It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. 
Charlotte was both."


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