Customer Reviews

Arthur's Birthday (An Arthur Adventure)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I've started reading Arthur's books to my sons and they love the colorful pictures in the book. The storyline is cute ~~ nothing spectular or exciting. Arthur invites everyone to his birthday party only to find out one of his friends, Muffy, has her birthday party the same day. Arthur decided to surprise Muffy by hosting the party at his house and all ends well.

It's a cute story though I am not quite sure about "Spin the Bottle" gift at the end. That may be a little too old for 8 year olds. But it's not offensive or anything ~~ it's just a cute story about birthday parties.

1-12-04

Arthur and Muffy schedule parties for the same day and invite the same people. Muffy's parents have put time and money into organising a party for her. Nevertheless it is presented as a splendid idea that Muffy be tricked into coming to Arthur's party, despite the lack of consideration shown for Muffy's parents' wishes.

We have this book, as well as a CD-ROM version, and have also seen this episode on TV. My boys like all versions, but I am bothered with every reading or playing by the fact that nothing really explains what happens to Muffy's party---supposedly the rock band and the clown have been booked for weeks, but somehow this all seems forgotten once Muffy is tricked into coming to Arthur's house to join his party. Is the plan that Arthur and Francine come up with simply to trick Muffy into not going to her own party? My husband says I read too much into a simple story, but I think kid's books should make sense. I do have to admit this troubling plot confusion has never bothered my boys a single bit!

I was very disappointed to find sexist content in this book. When the children discover that the boys and girls in their class might end up at separate birthday celebrations, a boy asks "Who needs girls?" The girl character's reaction, on the other hand, is "But it won't be as much fun without the boys." The message is that boys are more important than girls. Disturbing!!

I don't mind the story about Arthur and Muffy. I am very surprised that a bottle label with "spin the bottle" was given to Arthur as a birthday gift. Out of all the things in the world, this is a gift given in a Children's book. Very odd and inappropriate. I wish I read the review in more details before I ordered the book.

My 3 1/2 year old daughter loves reading Arthur, and we take out all of the books from the library. I was quite surprised and rather disappointed when we started to read this book and there was a mention of "spin the bottle", a game for young adults. At the end of the book Francine gives Arthur a bottle as a birthday present so they can play the game. These children in this book are around 8 or 9 and should not even be thinking about kissing games at this age!

A very cute book that tells the story of Arthur, an 8 year old ardvark whose birthday party is the same day as his friend Muffy's. After the boys and girls initally side with their own kind, Arthur has the idea to give Muffy a surprise party.
In regards to the 'spin the bottle' complaints, I had no problem with it as a kid, and considering they don't actually play (the joke is that Francine wants to play at all, being the tomboyish girl of the group) I don't think it's going to traumatize anyone.

I like this book because it is Arthur and Muffy's birthday. It reminds me of when I was in first grade. I had the same birthday as someone else. I like Marc Brown. My favorite part is when they surprised Muffy by hiding in different places in Arthur's house. I think you should read this book because it's a good book.

I really like the book Arthur's Birthday because I liked when Arthur figured out what to do when Muffy and his birthday are on the same day. He was kind and knew what he was doing.

This is the same story as on the TV series, wherein Arthur's birthday is on the same day as Muffy's and both want to have their parties at the same time. The fact that it's the same as on the TV show can work to your advantage in that kids know the story, whether you read it aloud or they read it to you. It gives them confidence in knowing some of what's going to happen. The colorful illustrations are fun to follow along with. The Arthur doll is soft and huggable with "glasses" that are sewn onto the washable body. The doll makes a nice prop if you're reading out loud to a small group.