Arthur's Underwear (Arthur Adventures Series)

Arthur is having nightmares about showing up to school in his underwear! Afraid his dreams will become reality, he considers sleeping with his pants on, but knows his Mom won't approve. Buster suggests not sleeping at all, so Arthur tries all sorts of tricks to stay awake. Then, Arthur really does rip his pants! But with help from friends, it's not so nightmarish.

Library Journal

K-Gr 2-Brown wrote this "For all the kids who insisted on an underwear book." Arthur aficionados will chortle at each picture of boxers and briefs. They'll also empathize with the young aardvark's recurring dreams about public humiliation that inevitably become reality the day his pants rip in the cafeteria. The cook helps him through the ordeal and his nightmares finally disappear. However, Buster, who revealed his best friend's secret fears to their classmates, succumbs to similar dreams at the end. Brown's illustrations remain faithful to the series. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but it's still enjoyable in its familiarity.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Two things suggest that Arthur, the loveable star of children s books and the PBS series, may not be so fictitious after all: 1) Kids are known to call Marc Brown s house looking for their bespectacled friend and 2) Brown s third grade class picture -- according to many, a dead-ringer for the aardvark himself.