Arthur's perfect Christmas

Format:

Book

Title:

Arthur's perfect Christmas

Author:

Brown, Marc Tolon.

ISBN:

9780316119689

9780316001304

9780439405102

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication Information:

Boston : Little, Brown and Co., 2000.

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 26 cm

Summary:

Even without snow, turkey dinner and a perfect tree, Arthur and his family and friends have a wonderful Christmas--and Hanukkah--celebration.

Program Information:

Accelerated Reader Grades K-4 2.4 0.5 Quiz 44362 English fiction, vocabulary quiz available, audio quiz available for beginning readers.

Accelerated Reader AR LG 2.4 0.5 44362EN.

Subject(s):

Christmas stories.

Aardvark -- Juvenile fiction.

Animals -- Juvenile fiction.

Christmas -- Fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	Christmas Picture Book Brown	Searching... Unknown
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	Christmas Picture Book Brown	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Newberg Public Library	BROWN	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Salem Main Library	JPH CHRISTMAS Brown	Searching... Unknown

While at first Arthur thought it was going to be a perfect Christmas, he's not so sure anymore. It hasn't snowed, the tree is decorated with trolls and unicorns, Dad decides to make an authentic "ancient" Christmas dinner, and Arthur accidentally breaks his gift for Mom. While Francine happily celebrates Hanukkah, Brian prepares for Kwanzaa, and Buster tries to find a holiday of his own, Arthur starts to think he'll have a terrible Christmas--until an unexpected guest changes everything. Full-color illustrations.

Author Notes

Author and illustrator, Marc Brown was born in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1946. He attended the Cleveland Institute of Art. After college, he worked numerous odd jobs before he began his career.

He is most renown for creating the Arthur series. The idea for Arthur, the aardvark came one night while telling his son a bedtime story. The first title in the series was "Arthur's Nose" written in 1976. Since then, Brown has written over thirty books in the Arthur Adventure series. D. W., Arthur's sister was another character created by Brown. In addition to writing, Brown also developed the Arthur television series on PBS.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (3)

Horn Book Review

In a book written to tie in with a Christmas television special, Arthur hopes for the perfect Christmas, but family, gift, and friend complications threaten his plans. The story and characters all behave in predictable fashion, and the book suffers for the lack of imagination. Still, there are funny details of family life and cheerful illustrations to satisfy readers. From HORN BOOK Spring 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

Arthur imagines his ideal Christmas to include snow, the perfect tree, and his favorite food, but soon realizes that life isnt always what youd expect. At first this discovery discourages him, but he soon learns to put his expectations aside and has a great Christmas. Once again Brown, well known for his popular Arthur Adventure book series and Emmy Awardwinning PBS television series, employs the usual cast of characters to address a common situation. Family and peer dynamics are explored in a warm-hearted, amusing way to educate young readers. In the beginning, Arthur is sure this Christmas will be disastrous. Instead of a turkey dinner, Dad is preparing a Middle Eastern meal that might have been served during the time Jesus was in Bethlehem. Arthur is sure hell hate it but ends up loving it. His image of a normal Christmas tree evaporates when D.W. decorates it with her trolls and unicorns. Worst of all, theres no snow. As in most Marc Brown books, everyone learns a lesson. Arthurs sister is consumed by the primary present she wants but finally recognizes that Santa knows best. Francine celebrates Chanukah with Muffy, who now appreciates having a friend as the best gift of all. Buster teaches his mom that the holidays are about being with loved ones, and Uncle Fred helps Arthur experience the true joy of giving and sharing. Christmas is more than presents, he wisely advises. It snows after all and Arthur declares, This is the perfect Christmas! (Picture book. 4-8)

Booklist Review

Ages 4^-8. This book accompanies the PBS prime-time holiday special by the same name; hopefully, the action will make more sense on screen than it does on the page. There are several stories going on here. Arthur is hoping for a perfect Christmas, but everything is working against it: there's no snow; Dad is making a Middle Eastern meal instead of roasting a turkey; and Arthur picks out the perfect present for his mom and then breaks it. Then there are the subplots, which continue every few pages or so and make the narrative difficult to follow. In one rather bizarre subplot, Buster's mother keeps waking him up and giving him presents because she thinks his Christmas will be ruined without his dad, from whom she's divorced. In another, Muffy is rude when Francine chooses to stay home at Hanukkah rather than come to a Christmas party. All in all, this is a jumble, but some libraries will want to have the book on hand when the special airs. For die-hard fans. --Ilene Cooper