Stuart Little

Summary

Stuart Little is the second son of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick C. Little of New York City, and from his arrival he is only about two inches tall and looks in every way like a mouse. The family, including his older brother George, treat him as one of themselves, and Stuart is courteous, neatly dressed in tiny clothes, and full of enterprise. His size makes him useful: he is lowered on a string down the bathtub drain to recover his mother's ring, and he helps with things too small for anyone else. It also puts him in danger. The family's cat, Snowbell, resents him, and one morning Stuart is rolled up inside a window shade while his worried family search the mouse hole for him. On a trip to Central Park, Stuart meets Dr. Carey, a dentist who sails model boats on the pond, and takes the helm of his schooner, the Wasp, in a race against the Lillian B. Womrath. Through squalls, a floating paper bag and a near collision, Stuart steers the Wasp to victory. One winter day a small bird named Margalo, half frozen, is taken into the Little household. Stuart loves her at once and guards her from Snowbell. When Stuart is shut in a garbage can, dumped onto a garbage scow and carried out to sea, Margalo flies out and carries him back to safety. In spring Snowbell plots with an Angora cat to eat Margalo; a pigeon warns her with a note, and she flies away in the night without saying where. Heartbroken, Stuart sets out to find her. Dr. Carey gives him a tiny automobile, and he drives north out of the city. In one town he meets a school superintendent who needs a substitute and teaches a class for a day, and instead of arithmetic and spelling he leads the class in a discussion of what laws they would make if he were Chairman of the World. In the town of Ames' Crossing he hears of Harriet Ames, a girl no bigger than he is, and writes inviting her to go canoeing on the river at evening. He buys a souvenir birchbark canoe and fits it out, but when Harriet arrives the canoe has been damaged and leaks; Stuart is so dejected that the evening ends badly and she goes home. In the final chapter he stops to talk with a telephone repairman, who tells him that north is a good direction to travel, and Stuart drives on toward the north, still searching. The book does not say whether he finds Margalo. Harper & Brothers published it in October 1945 with drawings by Garth Williams, his first illustrated book, over the objections of the New York Public Library's influential children's librarian Anne Carroll Moore.

Plot or Argument

• Chapters 1–5: In the Drain, Home Problems, Washing Up, Exercise, Rescued

  Stuart arrives in the Little family, retrieves Mrs. Little's ring from the drain, manages a full-size household with ingenuity, and survives Snowbell's mischief when he is rolled up in a window shade.

• Chapters 6–7: A Fair Breeze and The Sailboat Race

  In Central Park Stuart meets Dr. Carey and sails the model schooner Wasp to victory over the Lillian B. Womrath through wind, waves and a drifting paper bag.

• Chapters 8–9: Margalo and A Narrow Escape

  A small bird, Margalo, joins the household; when Stuart is carried out to sea on a garbage scow, she flies to his rescue.

• Chapter 10: Springtime

  Snowbell conspires with an Angora cat against Margalo; a pigeon's warning sends her flying away, and Stuart resolves to follow.

• Chapters 11–12: The Automobile and The Schoolroom

  Dr. Carey supplies a miniature car; on the road north Stuart substitutes for a teacher and talks with the class about the Chairman of the World.

• Chapters 13–14: Ames' Crossing and An Evening on the River

  Stuart meets the tiny Harriet Ames and plans a canoe outing, but the damaged canoe and his own disappointment spoil the evening.

• Chapter 15: Heading North

  A telephone repairman encourages him, and Stuart drives north into a wide country, hopeful though Margalo is still lost.

Characters

• Stuart Little, protagonist

  Mouse-sized second son of the Little family, polite, brave, adventurous and easily hurt in his dignity.

• Mr. Frederick C. Little, father

  Stuart's kindly, conventional father, protective of his small son's feelings.

• Mrs. Little, mother

  Stuart's anxious, affectionate mother, whose lost ring is his first rescue.

• George Little, older brother

  Stuart's energetic brother, full of schemes that seldom come off.

• Snowbell, family cat

  The Littles' white cat, jealous of Stuart and a threat to Margalo.

• Margalo, Stuart's friend

  A small wild bird who lives with the Littles, saves Stuart from the scow, and flees from the cats.

• Dr. Carey, dentist and yachtsman

  Owner of the model schooner Wasp, who later provides Stuart's car for the journey.

• The Angora cat, antagonist

  A stray who agrees with Snowbell to catch Margalo.

• Harriet Ames, girl of Ames' Crossing

  A girl as small as Stuart, whom he invites canoeing.

• The telephone repairman, roadside acquaintance

  A lineman who talks with Stuart in the last chapter and approves his heading north.

Lessons

• Small does not mean less

  Stuart is two inches tall in a city built for people, yet he wins a boat race, teaches a class and drives across the country. White never pretends his size is no difficulty; he shows a small person meeting large difficulties with courage and good manners.

  • Which jobs can Stuart do because he is small, and which are harder for him?
  • How does Stuart act when people stare at him or underestimate him?
  • When have you been able to help because you were the right size, age or kind of person for the job?

• Friendship that goes looking

  Margalo saves Stuart from the garbage scow, and when she disappears he leaves home to find her. The whole second half of the book is a search made out of loyalty to a friend.

  • Why does Stuart decide to leave home after Margalo flies away?
  • How did Margalo show she was Stuart's friend before she left?
  • Is it worth looking for a friend even if you do not know where they have gone?

• Disappointment and keeping on

  The canoe evening with Harriet goes wrong, and Stuart's sulking makes it worse. The next morning he is on the road again. The book lets a hero be disappointed and even foolish, and still shows him choosing to go on.

  • What goes wrong at the river, and how much of it is Stuart's own fault?
  • What could Stuart have said to Harriet that might have saved the evening?
  • How does the telephone repairman help Stuart start again?

• An ending that points forward

  White ends with Stuart still searching. The last chapter is about direction and hope rather than arrival, which leaves readers to imagine what comes next.

  • Did you want to know whether Stuart finds Margalo? Why do you think White did not tell us?
  • Why might heading in the right direction matter more than getting there quickly?

Context

White was a New Yorker essayist who knew Manhattan well, and Stuart's world is the Upper East Side, Central Park and the roads north into New England in the years around the Second World War. The book belongs to a mid-century flowering of American children's fantasy that set talking animals and impossible creatures in ordinary, carefully observed places.

Composition

White said the character came to him in a dream about a small, nicely dressed, questing figure with the features of a mouse. He told Stuart stories to young relatives for years and finished the book in 1944–45, partly to have something complete while he was unwell. Harper & Brothers, whose children's department was led by Ursula Nordstrom, published it in October 1945 with Garth Williams's drawings. The first sentence was later revised; editions now say that the second son arrived rather than was born.

Reception

Anne Carroll Moore, head of children's work at the New York Public Library, who had once encouraged White to write for children, read the proofs and urged that it not be published, objecting to the mixture of fantasy and realism and the unresolved ending. Children and booksellers embraced it, and it has stayed in print ever since. White received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 1970 for his children's books. The 1999 film and its sequels changed the story considerably, making Stuart an adopted mouse.

Comparisons

• charlottes-web

  White's second children's book shares Garth Williams's drawings and a tender talking-animal friendship, but trades Stuart's open-ended road story for the closed circle of a barn year and a resolved ending.

• the-trumpet-of-the-swan

  White's last children's book is another journey of a creature with a handicap of nature, the voiceless swan Louis, who like Stuart makes his way in the human world through skill and persistence.

• the-borrowers

  Both imagine tiny people in a full-size house and draw comedy and danger from drains, cats and furniture; Norton's Clocks hide from humans, while Stuart is a son of the family.

• the-cricket-in-times-square

  Two New York stories about a very small creature in a big city, a cat included; Selden's cricket ends by going home to Connecticut, while Stuart leaves the city and keeps going.

• the-wind-in-the-willows

  Toad's passion for motorcars and the open road, and Rat's boating on the river, are the English ancestors of Stuart's model schooner, his little car and his ill-fated canoe.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• How the Little family adapts their home for Stuart in the first chapters, and the dangers ordinary things like a drain or a window shade pose to him.
• Stuart's seamanship in the sailboat race on the Central Park pond in Chapter 7.
• Snowbell's behavior toward Stuart and Margalo, and the pigeon's warning that sends Margalo away.
• The schoolroom chapter, where Stuart throws out the lesson plan and talks about the Chairman of the World.
• How Stuart behaves when the canoe evening goes wrong, and how he recovers the next day.

Key terms and names

The Wasp

Dr. Carey's model schooner, which Stuart sails in the race against the Lillian B. Womrath on the pond in Central Park.

Garbage scow

A flat boat that hauls the city's rubbish out to sea. Stuart is accidentally dumped onto one and Margalo rescues him.

Margalo

The small bird who lives with the Littles. Her flight in spring starts Stuart's journey north.

Substitute teacher

A person who teaches a class for the day when the usual teacher is absent. Stuart volunteers for School Number Seven.

Chairman of the World

The imaginary ruler Stuart and the schoolchildren discuss, asking what fair laws he should make.

Ames' Crossing

The small town where Stuart meets Harriet Ames and plans the canoe trip on the river.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension How does Stuart help his mother when her ring falls down the drain?
2. Comprehension Who saves Stuart when he is carried out to sea on the garbage scow, and how?
3. Comprehension Why does Margalo fly away in the spring, and who warns her?
4. Interpretation Stuart skips arithmetic and spelling to talk about the Chairman of the World. Was that a good lesson for the children? Why?
5. Interpretation Why do you think Stuart is so upset about the canoe that he cannot enjoy the evening with Harriet?
6. Interpretation What does the telephone repairman say that makes Stuart feel better about heading north?
7. Big Question Is it more important to finish a journey or to keep going the right way? What does Stuart's last chapter teach you about hope?

Faith Connections

• 1 Samuel 16:7 (Scripture)

  The Lord looks on the heart, not the outward appearance. People stare at Stuart because he looks like a mouse, but his family and friends judge him by his courage and kindness.

• Hebrews 11:8 (Scripture)

  Abraham went out not knowing where he was going. Stuart sets out north without knowing where Margalo is, trusting that the direction is right.

• Micah 6:8 (Scripture)

  To do justly, love mercy and walk humbly is the kind of law Stuart's class is groping toward when they discuss what a good Chairman of the World would require.

• Proverbs 18:24 (Scripture)

  A friend who sticks closer than a brother: Margalo flies out to sea to save Stuart, and Stuart leaves home to look for her.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: A very small person lives in a world built for large ones. Stuart meets each danger with resourcefulness and good manners, wins real victories, and loses a friend through no fault of his own. Since he cannot know where Margalo is, the only faithful thing to do is to keep looking in the best direction he has. Therefore the book argues that a good life is measured by courage and direction more than by arrival.

Rhetorical device: open ending. Chapter 15 closes with Stuart driving north, the search unfinished; the second quote in this record is the final sentence, which gives hope without resolution.

Debate: Resolved: Stuart was right to leave home to search for Margalo.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Choose three of Stuart's adventures, such as the drain, the sailboat race and the schoolroom, and explain how each one shows a different kind of courage.

Comparison with Charlotte's Web: Compare Stuart's search for Margalo with Wilbur's care for Charlotte's egg sac. How does each friend show love after the other is gone, and why does one book end with a search and the other with a homecoming?

Medical Lens

No medical content of note. Dr. Carey is a dentist, but he appears as a model-boat sailor and the giver of Stuart's car, not in his practice; Stuart's unusual birth is told as plain fact with no medical framing, and the revised first sentence (arrived for born) was a matter of taste, not of medicine.

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Make a map of Stuart's travels from the Littles' apartment through Central Park and north to Ames' Crossing, marking each adventure on the way.

• Fiction

  Write a sixteenth chapter in which Stuart finally hears news of Margalo, keeping White's open ending as open or as closed as you think right.

• Dialogue

  Write the conversation Stuart and Harriet might have had if he had laughed off the leaking canoe and accepted her idea for the evening.

• Essay

  Stuart tells the class what laws the Chairman of the World should make. Write three laws you would make, and explain which of Stuart's adventures shows why each one is needed.

Further Reading

• Charlotte's Web, E. B. White

• The Trumpet of the Swan, E. B. White

• Letters of E. B. White, E. B. White, ed. Dorothy Lobrano Guth

  Includes White's letters about the writing and reception of Stuart Little.

• E. B. White: A Biography, Scott Elledge

• The Story of Charlotte's Web, Michael Sims

  Covers White's earlier years, including the making of Stuart Little.