Arthur, an aardvark, faces many issues and problems most kids encounter in early elementary school-having to wear glasses, being behind in losing first tooth, dealing with a bully, putting up with a younger sibling, adjusting to a new baby, going to camp for the first time are just a few examples. Marc Brown's depictions of Arthur have evolved over time. The first book, Arthur's Nose, shows a very real looking aardvark but by Arthur's TV Trouble Arthur looks more like an adorable mouse! A fun activity with kids is to have a copy of each book and line them up from the oldest copyright to the most current and compare the illustrations.
My boys loved these books at an early age (like toddler age!). With story lines being complete and well developed, coupled with almost full page illustrations this is a great series for kids of many age groups. There are at least twenty-two picture books in this series. Marc Brown has written beginning reader books and chapter books for second/third graders too with these same characters.
Some caution- since Arthur is second/third grade in these books-there are some events and words that parents may not appreciate for the younger crowd. In Arthur's Halloween, the kids talk about a witch that lives in a run-down house, his friends come up with spooky, creepy ways the "witch" is going to torture Arthur and Arthur cracks a joke at the end about the cemetery "people are just dying to get in" . The game "spin the bottle" is a mentioned blatantly in Arthur's Birthday. In other books there is sometimes name calling and friends being unkind.
No comments:
Post a Comment