Just took a grade 5 class to see the pre-screening of Charlotte's Web today because they won a Charlotte's Web contest. They made their own comic books based on Charlotte's Web and then, this is the impressive part, a claymation trailer of Charlotte's Web and did the script, shooting, voice over and editing all by themselves.
At the end of the movie, I asked what they thought. Most of them thought it was good but not as good as the book. Of course they couldn't say exactly why they felt that way. I guess everyone has a different vision in their head when they read the book and the movie can never quite live up to it. They did say they thought Templeton isn't as cool, and Fern (Dakota Fanning) wasn't quite right. The spider spinning web in CG impressed them though.
No student cried but one of the teachers needed tissues badly. :)
For those that are reading the book or already read it, our website for discussing school reading program books is just being launched and Charlotte's Web is one of the main titles. Feel free to discuss the book here http://www.koolstory.com.
