Arthur's Computer Disaster: An Arthur Adventure (Arthur Adventures)
Kindergarten-Grade 3.  Adapted 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, FLCopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.