Some Writer!

Title:Some Writer!

Author: Melissa Sweet

Grade Level:3&4th

               As a little girl, I was always fascinated by the lives of authors, especially the ones that wrote my favorite books. When I came across this biography of E.B. White, I was eager to read it. The book definitely delivered! I was entranced. Melissa Sweet writes in a narrative fashion that makes the character, E.B. White, come alive.  She also gives you new insight on each of his stories.  While I’m raving about Melissa Sweet’s skills, her collage illustrations are both unique and insightful.  The illustrations are such that even reluctant readers will pick up this book to look at the illustrations.

               In Some Writer!, you will follow the life of E.B. White and learn how his childhood prepared him for a career in writing.  The book continues to follow him as he starts his remarkable writing career. Because it’s a biography of course, it’s also going to continue to follow his life until he dies.  I enjoyed learning more about E.B. White as a person, but I was especially taken by the chapters about each book that he published. 

               I enjoyed reading about how most libraries band Stuart Little because the use of imagination was deemed outrageous and at the time, controversial.  Ms. Sweet also introduces us to the beloved pig, Wilbur and the spider, Charlotte.  She includes some comments from Garth Williams, the illustrator, on drawing making Charlotte look like a “love-able” spider. 

               A delightful, well-researched book that children will enjoy looking through and will enjoy learning more about their favorite author. 

               In the spirit of all honesty, E.B. White was not a paragon of virtue as he did marry a divorced woman and that fact is mentioned in the book.