ARTHUR, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

by Patricia MacLachlan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 1981

Those scatty folk down on the farm prove therapeutic for Arthur, a tidy uptight kid, who spends ""the summer of his tenth year"" with Great Aunt Elda and Great Uncle Wrisby ""while his parents [go] off to practice not yelling at each other."" While staying with Aunt Elda and Uncle Wrisby, who speak French to their pet chicken Pauline and sing to their pregnant pig Bernadette, Arthur makes friends with Moira, a rambunctious girl his age who urges him to ""do things"" instead of just writing in his notebook. What Arthur does is build a birthing pen for Bernadette (but really for himself, as Aunt Elda helps him realize) and, later, more heroically, help Bernadette give birth outdoors during a wild rainstorm. With false alarms over Pauline's suspected presence in peddler Yoyo's cooking pot and more commotion when Arthur, Moira, and Pauline get drunk on Uncle Wrisby's medicine, MacLachlan's capital-C Characters churn out some nicely timed, good-natured fun.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 1981

ISBN: 0064402886

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1981

Categories: FICTION