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Meryl Streep will be narrating a new audiobook edition of “Charlotte’s Web” and is the first person to narrate the classic since the author’s own performance, recorded nearly 50 years ago. According to People, which has an exclusive first look at its cover-art, the classic story will also be narrated by an ensemble cast and features cover art by two-time Caldecott Honor-winning artist Melissa Sweet. “E.B. White wrote that Charlotte’s Web is a story of life, death, and friendship,” said Sweet, who is also a White biographer. “For the audiobook cover, I chose to illustrate the quintessential moment when Wilbur first meets Charlotte on a perfect spring day in Maine. I am deeply honored.” White’s story of the friendship between Charlotte, a barn spider, and Wilbur, a pig who was the runt of the litter, has moved generations of readers and inspired two film adaptations. “As a piece of work it is just about perfect, and just about magical in the way it is done,” wrote Eudora Welty in her 1952 New York Times review of the book. “What it all proves – in the words of the minister in the story which he hands down to his congregation after Charlotte writes ‘Some Pig’ in her web – is ‘that human beings must always be on the watch for the coming of wonders.’ ” The new Charlotte’s Web audiobook will be published by Listening Library on Oct. 29. The full story can be read over at People. Many thanks to Alvaro for the heads-up.
