What does Charlotte’s Web mean to you? In the latest edition of THNKR’s BOOKD series, readers and writers talked about E.B. White‘s famous kid’s book.

The group included The Story of Charlotte’s Web author Michael Sims, CafeMom Studios host Joann Augello , seventh grade poet Kioni Marshall, New York University professor Robert Landy, teacher Monica Edginer and Unicorn Chronicles series author Bruce Coville.

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Celebrated author and illustrator Russell Hoban has passed away. He was 86-years-old. He published both adult works and children’s books.

In children’s publishing, Hoban became especially famous for his Frances picture book series; he published a total of seven titles starring the temperamental badger.

According to The New York Times, Hoban preferred not to illustrate his own picture books; a majority of the Frances titles featured the drawings of his first wife Lillian Hoban. On the adult side, Hoban wrote and published the popular science fiction novel Riddley Walker. It went on to win the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel in 1982.

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Garth Williams‘ original graphite-and-ink cover for the E.B. White classic, Charlotte’s Web sold for $155k at auction. Altogether, 17 bids were made via internet, phone, and mail on the Heritage Auctions item.

Besides the original cover, another three items were included in the lot: “a 14 x 16.5 in. ink drawing of a web that was used to create the decorative end paper design for the book, and two 9 x 8 in. watercolors of the cover design.”

According to The Washington Post, the auction organizers originally estimated it would go for $30,000, but it exceeded expectations by more than 500 percent. 42 of Williams’ art pieces were sold in the same auction and in total, the collection grossed more than $780,000. The New York buyer for Charlotte’s Web preferred to remain anonymous.

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Newsweek looks at the marketing plans in store for the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE novels, the classic series by Laura Ingalls Wilder that celebrates its 75th anniversary this month. And the plans are big, and also somewhat drastic, because the first eight stories appear with photos of models as Laura instead of with the Garth Williams illustrations. (The text is unchanged.) “Girls might feel the Garth Williams art is too old-fashioned,” says Tara Weikum, executive editor for the “Little House” series. “We wanted to convey the fact that these are action-packed. There were dust storms and locusts. And they had to build a cabin from scratch.” (The new tag line: “Little House, Big Adventure.”)

And the cover art changes aren’t just limited to Laura’s world; expect new covers for upcoming editions of Madeleine L’Engle‘s A WRINKLE IN TIME and let’s not forget the reissued CHARLOTTE WEB with Dakota Fanning on the cover. “Purists are often upset. But this is also a way for publishers … to beef up sales,” says Diane Roback, children’s editor for Publishers Weekly. “The book jackets we as adults are accustomed to seeing, and love from our childhood, may look musty and dusty to today’s kids.” Allison Edheimer, 9, wants the photo version of the “Little House” series. “I’d rather read something where I can picture the person,” she says. Rachael Ross, 10, agrees: “I like seeing real people better than drawings,” she says. “Drawings look sort of fake.”