Arthur's First Sleepover

Arthur's First Sleepover
By Marc Brown
Publisher/Date: The Trumpet Club Inc. 1995
# of Pages: 30
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Genre: Fiction/Picture Book

Summary:

This is the story of Arthur Read's first sleepover. He's very excited to have his friends, Buster and the Brain, over to sleep outside in a tent. At first, Buster's mom doesn't want him to go, but after a phone call with Arthur's mom, she agrees to let him come. When they come to his house, Arthur's sister, DW, is talking about Aliens. She thinks the boys might see some at their sleepover. The boys make signs welcoming any aliens, then they unpack their treats, baseball cards, and blankets. Arthur's parents order them a pizza, and later Arthur's dad comes to tell them it's time to go to sleep. That's when they play cards when suddenly they see flashing lights and think it's aliens. They get scared and run, messing up their tent. Then they realize that it was just DW tricking them with a flashlight. The boys decide to trick DW by putting a fake alien by her window. She screams, waking everyone up, but when the parents go and check on the boys, they are sound "asleep".

Who would benefit from reading this book?

I think anyone would like to read this book. It's a picture book, and it's fairly easy to read, so elementary school students would benefit from reading this book. I think boys with younger sisters will also be able to relate to this story.

What problems/conflicts could this book potentially cause?

This book is just a harmless story about a sleepover. I don't think it would cause any sort of problems. I guess it could be argued that it teaches kids that teasing siblings is ok, but I don't think it could cause problems.

My Reaction:

I have always loved Arthur books ever since I was young. I liked going back and reading this again. I think Arthur books are very entertaining, and I really like the plot lines. I think it's funny the things that Arthur and DW do. Their relationship makes me laugh. I like the illustrations as well. I like how they take up the whole page and go to the very edge of the page. I really liked this book, and I was able to read it to my nephew, and he enjoyed it as well.