Arthur's Computer Disaster

From School Library Journal

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, FL - Copyright © 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Spaghetti Book Club

Arthur's Computer Disaster is a story about Arthur and his friend who play on the computer after Arthur's mom tells them not to. Arthur should have listened to his mom, but instead broke the computer!

We liked the book very much. We thought it was funny when Arthur and his family went to bed, but his mom stayed up and was busy playing on the computer with the very same game Arthur and his friend played with. Our favorite character was D.W. because she made us laugh. She reminds us of our little sisters who always try to get us into trouble. Our favorite part of the story was when Arthur's mother was playing on the computer all night. We thought that was really silly because she is a mom who was playing a game for kids!

We recommend this book to children who need to learn to be responsible and to children who might want to learn to use a computer. Mazi S. (age 9) and Amarilis C. (age 8) - Copyright © 1999 Happy Medium Productions, Inc.