Stuart Little

Stuart Little is a 1945 American children's novel by E. B. White,[1] his first book for children, and is widely recognized as a classic in children's literature. Stuart Little was illustrated by the subsequently award-winning artist Garth Williams, also his first work for children. It is a realistic fantasy about a mouse-like human boy named Stuart Little. According to the first chapter, he ″looked very much like a rat/mouse in every way″.

This article is about the book. For the film, see Stuart Little (film). For the television series, see Stuart Little (TV series).
Stuart Little
First edition
AuthorE. B. White
IllustratorGarth Williams
Cover artistGarth Williams
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreChildren's novel
PublisherHarper & Brothers
Publication date
1945
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages128

Background

In a letter White wrote in response to inquiries from readers, he described how he came to conceive of Stuart Little: "many years ago I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a rat. That's how the story of Stuart Little got started".[2] He had the dream in the spring of 1926, while sleeping on a train on his way back to New York from a visit to the Shenandoah Valley.[3] Biographer Michael Sims wrote that Stuart "arrived in [White's] mind in a direct shipment from the subconscious."[3] White typed up a few stories about Stuart, which he told to his 18 nieces and nephews when they asked him to tell them a story. In 1935, White's wife Katharine showed these stories to Clarence Day, then a regular contributor to The New Yorker. Day liked the stories and encouraged White not to neglect them, but neither Oxford University Press nor Viking Press was interested in the stories,[4] and White did not immediately develop them further.[5]

In the fall of 1938, as his wife wrote her annual collection of children's book reviews for The New Yorker, White wrote a few paragraphs in his "One Man's Meat" column in Harper's Magazine about writing children's books.[4] Anne Carroll Moore, the head children's librarian at the New York Public Library, read this column and responded by encouraging him to write a children's book that would "make the library lions roar".[4] White's editor at Harper, who had heard about the Stuart stories from Katherine, asked to see them, and by March 1939 was intent on publishing them. Around that time, White wrote to James Thurber that he was "about half done" with the book; however, he made little progress with it until the winter of 1944-1945 when the book ended at Stuart setting off once more in his broken car, thinking that he will never see Margalo again, and 39 years and 9 months shy of E.B White's death.[6]

Plot

This story follows the life of Stuart Little, a mouse born into the Little family.

Reception

Lucien Agosta, in his overview of the critical reception of the book, notes that "Critical reactions to Stuart Little have varied from disapprobation to unqualified admiration since the book was published in 1945, though generally it has been well received."[7] Anne Carroll Moore, who had initially encouraged White to write the book, was critical of it when she read a proof of it.[8] She wrote letters to White; his wife, Katharine; and Ursula Nordstrom, the children's editors at Harper's, advising that the book not be published.[8]

Malcolm Cowley, who reviewed the book for The New York Times, wrote, "Mr. White has a tendency to write amusing scenes instead of telling a story. To say that Stuart Little is one of the best children's books published this year is very modest praise for a writer of his talent."[9] The book has become a children's classic, and is widely read by children and used by teachers.[10] White received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 1970 for Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web.[11]

Adaptations

Audio

Actress Julie Harris narrated an unabridged adaptation on LP in two volumes for Pathways Of Sound (POS 1036 and 1037). The complete recording was later released on audio cassette by Bantam Audio and on CD by Listening Library, and is now available from Audible.com.

Films
Main article: Stuart Little (franchise)

The book was very loosely adapted into a 1999 film of the same name, which combined live-action with computer animation. One such difference from the film and book is that Stuart is adopted instead of born into the family. There is also a plot line about him finding his real parents (who were killed in an accident when Stuart was a baby). A 2002 sequel to the first film, Stuart Little 2, more closely follows the plot of the book. A third film, Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild was released direct-to-video in 2006. This film was entirely computer-animated, and its plot was not derived from the book. All three films also leave out the plot of Stuart being a one-time substitute for a schoolhouse.

All three films feature Hugh Laurie as Mr. Little, Geena Davis as Mrs. Little, and Michael J. Fox as the voice of Stuart Little.

In 2015, it was announced that a remake of a Stuart Little film is in the works at Sony Pictures Entertainment and Red Wagon Entertainment. The movie will remain as a hybrid of live-action/computer animation. Douglas Wick, the producer of the original films, will produce the remake.[12]

Television

"The World of Stuart Little," a 1966 episode of NBC's Children's Theater, narrated by Johnny Carson, won a Peabody Award and was nominated for an Emmy. An animated television series, Stuart Little: The Animated Series, (based on the film adaptations) was produced for HBO Family and aired for 13 episodes in 2003.

Video games

Three video games based on the film adaptations of the same name have been produced. Stuart Little: the Journey Home, which was released only for the Game Boy Color in 2001, is based on the 1999 film. A game based on Stuart Little 2 was released for the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance and Microsoft Windows in 2002. And a third game entitled Stuart Little 3: Big Photo Adventure was released exclusively for the PlayStation 2 in 2005.

Notes
  1. Adrian Hennigan (1 November 2001). "Kids' Stuff". BBC. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  2. "Author Essay by E. B. White from HarperCollins Publishers". Harpercollins.com. 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  3. Sims 2011, p. 145
  4. Elledge (1986), p. 254
  5. Sims 2011, p. 146
  6. Elledge (1986), p. 255
  7. Agosta 1995, p. 59
  8. Elledge 1986, p. 263-264
  9. Cowley, Malcolm (28 October 1945). "Stuart Little: Or New York Through the Eyes of a rat". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  10. A Guide for Using Stuart Little in the Classroom, Lorraine Kujawa and Virginia Wiseman, Teacher Created Resources 2004, ISBN 978-1-57690-628-6
  11. "About E.B. White". Harper Collins. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  12. "Stuart Little Is Getting A Remake". August 2, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2018.

References
  • Agosta, Lucien (1995). E.B. White: The Children's Books. New York City: Twayne Publishers.
  • Elledge, Scott (1986). E.B. White: A biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-30305-5.
  • Sims, Michael (2011). The Story of Charlotte's Web. New York: Walker Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-8027-7754-6.
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