Some Writer! The Story of E. B. White (Book Review)

Title: Some Writer! The Story of E. B. White
Author: Melissa Sweet with Afterword by Martha White
Publication: 2016, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Hardcover
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction

Description: This is an illustrated biography of the beloved author of Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan, created by a gifted artist of mixed media. It starts with his childhood and provides a vivid depiction of young Elwyn’s, later called Andy, childhood in NYC and first exposure to Maine. His love of country life in Maine gave him deep pleasure and enabled him to craft stories about anthropomorphic characters that have entertained generations of children.

Audience: The book is written with simplicity that makes it suitable for middle schoolers researching an author but with enough dimension to appeal to adults interested in E. B. White.

My Impressions: I don’t recall what review inspired me to put this book on reserve at the library but when I picked it up and saw it was a juvenile biography, I almost didn’t bother to read it. That would have been a big mistake, as it was one of the most charming books I have read in some time. I was not previously familiar with Melissa Sweet who is a well known picture book illustrator and Caldecott honoree, but I was entranced by her multimedia approach – taking actual memorabilia from E. B.’s life and creating replicas of other pivotal moments in his life, while using quotes from E.B’s own writing throughout. It clearly made White’s surviving family members happy to have a biographer who loves Maine and nature as much as E.B. himself.

This is a gem of a book which reveals E. B.’s humor and modesty, love of his family (the letter he wrote when he learned his wife was pregnant is especially poignant), and the development of his career. Established as a writer for adults, E. B. wrote an essay on children’s books that caught the eye of Dr. Seuss himself, resulting in the encouragement E. B. needed to begin work on Charlotte’s Web, which became his first bestseller (and my favorite). Sweet includes a picture of a manual typewriter and information for young readers who only know computers, understanding that most people interested in an author want to envision him or her in the process of writing. I especially enjoyed learning about the early days of the New Yorker, which would not have interested me as a child, and Ursula Nordstrom’s inspired choice of Garth Williams to illustrate Charlotte’s Web as his first children’s book (coincidentally, a biography of Williams also was published in 2016).

After I finished this review, I found an interview with Sweet on NPR's All Things Considered.

Source: I got this book from the Boston Public Library. Highly recommended. Some book!

Images copyright to HMH, 2016