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Summary
Summary
Arthur wants to play Deep, Dark Sea on the computer every chance he gets. He's hooked! When his mother leaves for work and asks him not to touch the computer, Arthur can't resist the temptation. Disobedience leads to disaster when Arthur and his friend Buster both reach for the mouse -- and the computer screen goes blank! Will Arthur be able to fix the computer before his mom gets home from work? Once again Arthur, D.W., and friends lead us on a hilarious adventure kids won't want to miss.
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)
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3Adapted by Brown from a teleplay by Joe Fallon, this episode pits Arthur against his mother for computer time. He wants to play Deep, Dark Sea, but she has forbidden him to touch her PC while she is at work. However, the silent machine proves to be more temptation than Arthur can withstand. Pal Buster encourages him; D.W. predicts doom. A tug of war, a crashing keyboard, and an inoperable computer follow. Desperate attempts to fix it fail; in the end, Mom returns home, Arthur confesses, suffers the consequences, and learns a valuable lesson when Mom offers, "Always call me with your problems." She provides additional humor in the end, as she succumbs to the lure of Deep, Dark Sea, searching for sunken treasure. Brown's bright shades in his watercolor-and-ink cartoons continue to make America's famous aardvark family most appealing to young audiences. Great fun, and useful for parents looking for stories about responsibility and logical consequences of actions.Marsha McGrath, Clearwater Public Library, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) Michael Dorris's adult novels Yellow Raft in Blue Water and Cloud Chamber chronicle the deceptions and betrayals that nearly destroy a family, generation after generation. Yellow Raft in Blue Water moves from the present generation of fifteen-year-old Rayona back through two generations of women on her maternal side, while Cloud Chamber opens in nineteenth-century Ireland and moves forward through five generations of Rayona's paternal family. Whereas these two books convey how suffocating and harmful relationships can be, The Window throws itself open to the strengths of familial bonds. From the moment eleven-year-old Rayona sits by the window waiting for the return of her frequently delinquent mother, this novel pulsates forward with an energy and wit that never falters. In lively contrast to Dorris's more somber historical novels for children, the seemingly cocky but vulnerable and emotionally needy Rayona narrates this short novel with a breezy, spunky voice. When her Indian mother does not return from her latest binge to declare their usual "National Holiday" (on which she and Rayona can eat breakfast for supper and practice being best friends), Rayona's philandering black father informs her that her mother has checked into a rehab center, but that he is unable to care for Rayona. Her foster placement with the relentlessly cheerful Potters (Rayona is amazed to discover that "there are actual people like this who aren't on a weekly sitcom") proves short-lived and disastrous; placement with the stolid Mrs. Jackson turns to unexpected fun for them both but is likewise cut short. Rayona senses that her father, in talking with her about his family (with whom she will live next) is "leaving something out, some detail, some secret within a secret, but I am so anxious to find out what happened next, to get to the 'me' part, that I let it go by." The Window is all the "me part," keeping the exuberant narrator squarely in the middle as she finds her place in the secrets of her family. Rayona soon learns that her grandmother (her father's mother) is white-a fact he tells Rayona when he is taking her to meet her grandmother for the first time. Rayona resolves not to miss another word for the rest of her life. Sitting in the window seat of the airplane, she understands that she will never again "be able to look out a small window and see [her] whole world from it." With the introduction of Rayona's great-grandmother, the ancient and proper Mamaw, her sensible and wise Aunt Edna, and her grandmother Marcella (a "vanilla Hostess cupcake" of a woman), Dorris's novel becomes yet more unguarded as these three women embrace their young relative with unconditional love. No scene feels more genuinely celebratory than when her aunt and grandmother travel west with Rayona to return her home. Having installed a device atop their car to provide cool air-a contrivance that re-quires the windows to be rolled up-the three must shout to be heard, causing a cacophony of "beg your pardons." When Grand-mother opens the window, thinking to be chastised but instead winning the approval of everyone as the cooler sails away, all three break into hilarity and song. Without glos-sing over the hurt and pain of parental abandonment, this novel of open win-dows is a joy, a "national holiday" to which we can return any day of the week. s.p.b. Picture Books Marc Brown Arthur's Computer Disaster; illus. by the author (Preschool, Younger) Arthur knows he's not supposed to be using his mother's computer, but the lure of Deep, Dark Sea, "the greatest game in the universe," is irresistible. Predictably, the computer breaks; luckily, it's easy to fix; reassuringly, Mom is not mad, just disappointed. She decrees that there will be no computer gaming for a week-at least for Arthur: "'I'll be right up,' called Mom. 'As soon as I blast these skeletons from the treasure chest.'" "Adapted by Marc Brown from a teleplay by Joe Fallon," this story of mild disaster followed by mild reproof will be a pleasant diversion for fans of the popular TV personality. r.s. Eve Bunting Ducky; illus. by David Wisniewski (Preschool) David Wisniewski's Caldecott-winning paper-cutting talents get a comedic workout here, illustrating Bunting's slightly sly text about a plastic duck who, along with thousands of fellow bathtub toys, is washed overboard when a storm hits the freighter ferrying them across the ocean (Bunting supplies a note about the factual event that inspired the story). The duck tells the story ("Our ship has disappeared. The sea is big, big, big. Oh, I am scared!"), including an unfortunate encounter with a shark ("It shakes its head and spits us out. I expect we are not too tasty, though we are guaranteed non-toxic") and the basic existential dilemma of a bathtub toy out of its element: "I wish we could swim and get away. But all we can do is float." The ocean's currents eventually bring the duck to shore alongside many of his compatriots, and he finally achieves his destiny, floating in the security of a bubblebath. This is an out-of-the way excursion for both author and illustrator, and if Wisniewski's pictures are sometimes too weighty for Bunting's buoyant text, they are certainly splashy enough. r.s. H Peter Collington A Small Miracle (Younger) The creator of On Christmas Eve (reviewed 11/90) revisits that significant night in another masterfully executed wordless picture book. The artist's trademark sequential frames make the experience of turning the pages like watching a movie; this time it's a gripping, matter-of-factly magical story of charity and selflessness rewarded. In the midst of a bustling, prosperous contemporary village, a desperate old woman loses every-thing when she sells her sole prized possession-her accordion-and then is robbed. On her way home, she encounters the same thief attempting (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Ages 5^-7, older for reading alone. Unfortunately for Arthur, his addiction to the computer game Deep, Dark Sea coincides with tax season for his mom. She declares the computer off-limits but then is called to the office. The temptation is too much for Arthur, who quickly buys D. W.'s silence by agreeing to give her his desserts for a week and to play dollhouse. A scuffle between Arthur and Buster over who will open the treasure chest sends the keyboard crashing to the floor, and suddenly Arthur is in the familiar position of being in big trouble. Even the Brain can't get the computer up and running again. Although this isn't one of the best in the series, Brown's writing and artwork are, as always, clever and appealing. Thanks to the enormously popular PBS series, which has expanded Arthur's school-age audience and created a following among the preschool crowd, this should be in very high demand. --Lauren Peterson
