E. B. White
Elwyn Brooks White (July 11, 1899 – October 1, 1985)[1] was an American writer. He was the author of several highly popular books for children, including Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970).
E. B. White
In a 2012 survey of School Library Journal readers, Charlotte's Web was ranked first in their poll of the top one hundred children's novels.[2] White also was a contributing editor to The New Yorker magazine and co-author of The Elements of Style, an English language style guide.
Early life and education[edit]
White was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the sixth and youngest child of Samuel Tilly White, the president of a piano firm, and Jessie Hart White, the daughter of Scottish-American painter William Hart.[3] Elwyn's older brother Stanley Hart White, known as Stan, a professor of landscape architecture and the inventor of the vertical garden, taught E.B. White to read and explore the natural world.[4]
While attending Cornell University, White was very briefly a private in the Student Army Training Corps (SATC). In early 1918, the War Department created the SATC to hasten the training of soldiers for the war in Europe. Students continued to take college courses while training for the army. Unlike the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), SATC students were required to live and take all meals on campus and adhered to a strict military schedule of study and training. They also required a pass to go off campus on weekends. Following the end of World War I, the SATC program was disbanded in December 1918, and White did not serve with the active armed forces.[5][6][7][8]
In 1921, White graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. At Cornell, he obtained the nickname "Andy", where tradition confers that moniker on any male student whose surname is White after Cornell co-founder Andrew Dickson White,[9] and worked as editor of The Cornell Daily Sun with classmate Allison Danzig, who later became a sportswriter for The New York Times. As a Cornell University student, White was a member of Aleph Samach,[10] Quill and Dagger,[11][12] and Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.[13][14]
Death[edit]
Later in life, White developed Alzheimer's disease. He died on October 1, 1985, at his farm home in North Brooklin, Maine.[1] He is buried in the Brooklin Cemetery beside Katharine, who died in 1977.[29]
Legacy[edit]
The E.B. White Read Aloud Award is given by The Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC) to honor books that its membership feel embodies the universal read-aloud standards that E.B. White's works created.