Charlotte’s Web
AudioFile Earphones Award
Booklist Starred Review
2020 Audies Finalist, Audiobook of the Year
2020 Audies Finalist, Best Middle Grade Audiobook
2021 Grammy Award Nominee
“Melissa Sweet, author of Some Writer, introduces this edition of Charlotte’s Web with insights into White’s inspiration for the sweet story. Then, Meryl Streep and a stellar cast take us to the barnyard. She draws the listener in with a smooth, consistent delivery and unobtrusive interjections highlighting the emotions of the dialogue. Every portrayal of every character, major and minor, bursts with personality. January LaVoy’s Charlotte is thoughtful and patient. Kirby Heyborne takes Wilbur through a range of emotions as he goes from immature self-pity to the confidence of a true friend. Tavia Gilbert’s goose delivery, Robin Miles’s wise pronouncements as Old Sheep, Macleod Andrews’s sneering, greedy self-interest as Templeton the rat, and all the rest of the characters make the barnyard an inviting place to spend the day.”—AudioFile Magazine
“This marks the first recording of Charlotte’s Web since E. B. White narrated it himself nearly fifty years ago; thus, it is only appropriate that an actress as renowned as Meryl Streep should lead such a venture. Streep is, as ever, versatile and emphatic as she narrates the classic story of Wilbur the pig and his friendship with Charlotte the spider. White’s playful prose is often rhythmic, and Streep drags out some words and clips others in order to match the action of the moment, which is especially evidenced during Fern’s exhilarating experience on the rope swing. Streep’s captivating performance, however, does not eclipse the talents of her castmates, whose voices are as varied as the farm animals. Kirby Heyborne uses a boyish inflection to embody Wilbur’s joys and fears. January LaVoy, meanwhile, portrays a wise, openminded, singsong Charlotte, and MacLeod Andrews as Templeton sounds, well, as sneaky and rat-like as one would hope! Children and adults alike will giggle at the geese’s stutters and the sheep’s prolonged vowels, which capture the energy that made readers fall in love with the story in the first place. A topnotch recording of a beloved book and a must for all audio collections.”—Booklist
“. . . Hollywood’s perennial gold statue-holder is reading Charlotte’s Web, the perennial blue-ribbon winner at the state fair of children’s literature. And, no surprise, this new audiobook is a keeper. . . . Needless to say, Charlotte’s Web makes a great read-aloud. For some audiobook aficionados, nothing could beat White’s own 1970 recording, with his gruff New England accent and pointed lack of drama. Does it make the new Streep version more momentous that it’s a full-cast recording with drama to spare, or less so? For kids, or at least for the one kid I quizzed on the matter, a full-cast recording is by definition preferable. To my older ears, a large cast can be distracting — I imagine all the actors fighting over a mic, clamoring for my attention — but the clamor effect certainly suits Charlotte’s barnyard setting. And, fear not, we still get plenty of Streep.
Her narration is sometimes warm and cozy, like a grandmother reading us to sleep, and other times as dry and witty as was the author himself. It’s not easy to evaluate an audiobook performance, but I tried my best to mark moments in which she brought something extra to the text. For instance, when the school bus honks for Fern, Streep pauses just long enough for us to hear the honking in the word “honks” itself. Am I reading — or listening — too much into this? Probably.
The other performers are terrific, too. One standout: Robin Miles reads the part of the cranky Old Sheep, leavening the character’s dark vision of the pig’s fate with a generous pinch of mordant humor. Also, Tavia Gilbert, as the Goose, has to repeat every word she utters, over and over, at an impossibly rapid clip. January LaVoy as Charlotte is charming, but it took me a minute to get used to her girlish voice in that maternal role. (Then again, White does describe the spider’s voice as “thin.”) . . .”—Excerpted from the New York Times review by Raphael Simon