Arthur Read

This article is about the cartoon aardvark. For the English football (soccer) player, see Arthur Read (footballer).

Template:Infobox ArthurTVCharacter Arthur Timothy Read is the title character of both the book series and the PBS children's television show Arthur which was created by Marc Brown. On the show, he is eight years old in third grade, and lives in Elwood City. His birthday is on May 25th.

Arthur's appearance

Arthur is an eight-year-old aardvark and star of the self-titled TV series and books. His trademarks include his bright yellow sweater, baggy blue jeans, big round glasses, and red-and-white sneakers that he wears in most appearances. According to creator Marc Brown, he is supposed to be a representation of the average Christian American third-grader and is based on the author's own experiences growing up in Erie, Pennsylvania as a child.

In the first Arthur book "Arthur's Nose", Arthur had a long nose and he resembled an actual aardvark. However, his design evolved over the first half dozen books, and he now has a much shorter nose.

Arthur's relationships

The Boston Children's Museum displays an inflatable Arthur on the roof to advertise an Arthur-related exhibit within.

Family

A recurring theme in the Arthur series are the tensions between Arthur and his younger sister. Arthur is constantly pestered by his four-year-old sister D.W. Read, and even though she celebrated her fifth birthday during the TV series' third season, Arthur still referred her as a "four-year-old" in the episode "Return of the Snowball", which aired in the seventh season. D.W. usually tries to get Arthur into trouble, although there are times when Arthur can also be mean to D.W. or retaliate. Despite that, Arthur tries to ignore D.W.'s annoying antics most of the time, and often does her favors - sometimes on his parents' behest - against his will.

Arthur's parents include his mother Jane, who is a work-at-home accountant and his father David Read, who runs a catering business. He also has a baby sister named Kate and a pet dog named Pal.

Appearances from Arthur's extended family include Grandma Thora, Grandpa Dave, Uncle Fred, Uncle Richard (Dave's father), Aunt Jessica, Aunt Loretta, Aunt Lucy, Great-Grandma (Thora's mother) and his cousins Cora, Monique, Ricky, and other unnamed relatives. However, the only two members of Arthur's extended family who have appeared more than once as of today are Grandma Thora and Grandpa Dave.

Grandma Thora lives in a house not too far from Arthur's in Elwood City and is known to be a bad cook, but a loving grandmother and a world-class marbles player. Grandpa Dave lives on a farm that he claims has been in the Read family for 150 years.

Friends

Arthur's best friend is Buster Baxter, a jolly but naive rabbit who enjoys works of science fiction and eating, and has a knack for telling jokes. Arthur's other good friends include:

• Francine Frensky, a tomboyish monkey who can be quite bossy and loves sports.
• Mary Alice "Muffy" Crosswire is also a monkey whose father is the wealthiest businessman in Elwood City, and hence she tends to be spoiled. She has a craving for fashion and design.
• Alan "The Brain" Powers, a very intelligent bear, hence his nickname, who also excels at sports and is known for his politeness.
• Sue Ellen Armstrong, a friendly cat. She has lived abroad in many countries and practices martial arts.
• Fern Walters, a dog. A quiet girl who loves reading, especially mysteries and horror stories, and also enjoys writing poetry.
• George Nordgren, a moose. A timid, shy, dyslexic boy and skilled ventriloquist who daydreams regularly and has a puppet named Wally, that is a girafee that he sometime treats as a real person.
• Binky Barnes, a bulldog who is repeating third grade. Although his first appearances portray him as a bully, it was later revealed that he enjoys fine arts and actually has a very soft personality, which he hides in order to be accepted by the tougher fourth-graders.
• Jenna Morgan, a cat who is very good at sports and won the Athlete of the Year award but prefers to keep a low profile at school.
• Prunella Deegan, a mouse who enjoys fortune-telling, yoga, and the Henry Screever series.

Aside from these classmates of his, Arthur is also friends with many of his relatives who come from Ohio.

External links

• http://pbskids.org/arthur