Stuart Little

E. B. White was an eminent American author, essayist, and poet. He is renowned for his work as a contributor to The New Yorker, the co-author of The Elements of Style, and the creator of beloved books for children, including Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little.

White was born in Mount Vernon, New York, on July 11, 1899, as Elwyn Brooks—a name he never liked. ("My mother just hung it on me because she'd run out of names," he told The New York Times in 1980. "I was her sixth child.") After graduating from Cornell University in 1921, he worked as a reporter for various outlets, including United Press, American Legion News Service, and The Seattle Times, before joining a newly founded magazine, The New Yorker, in 1927. He remained a fixture of The New Yorker for the rest of his career, contributing his last essay in 1976. Over the decades, he wrote on wide-ranging topics from city life and literature to the meaning of democracy.

In 1959, White significantly expanded and revised a guide to writing American English originally written in 1918 by William Strunk Jr., his former English professor at Cornell. The result, The Elements of Style, commonly referred to as Strunk & White, is still regarded as the gold standard for writers. In 1963, White was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President John F. Kennedy, marking his significant impact on American letters.

In the late 1930s, White ventured into children's literature on behalf of his niece. His three children's books—Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970)—are widely acclaimed and cherished. Charlotte's Web was ranked as the top children's novel in a 2012 School Library Journal poll. Among prestigious accolades, he received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 1970 and the National Medal for Literature in 1971.

Despite his public acclaim, White was known to shy away from the limelight. He was a self-described private person, finding solace in the simplicity of farm life in Maine, where he moved in 1938. This grounding in the natural world often influenced his writings, reflecting a deep appreciation and concern for the environment. White married Katharine Sergeant Angell in 1929, with whom he had a son, Joel White. He passed away on October 1, 1985, at his home in North Brooklin, Maine. Along with his extensive body of writing and enduring works for children, White leaves a legacy to children's literature through the E.B. White Read Aloud Award, honoring books that embody his ideals of imaginative, well-written stories that meet his read aloud standards.