 |
Arthur History | |
ARTHUR HISTORY Arthur, the beloved aardvark, was created by author/illustrator Marc Brown. Brown was inspired by his beloved grandmother who "created imaginative stories on command”. As a result, Brown’s favorite childhood play activity was telling stories back and forth with his friends. Brown’s grandmother also encouraged young Brown’s passion for drawing by saving his artwork and building an education fund that helped Brown pay for art school. When Brown had his first son, he continued the storytelling tradition by making up bedtime stories, mostly about animals. One night Brown’s bedtime story was about an aardvark that hated his nose. The aadvark was named Arthur and the story became “Arthur’s Nose”, the first book in the Arthur Adventure series, published in 1976. For those unfamiliar with Arthur, the plots of Arthur stories usually revolve around simple events that children can identify with, such as taking a family vacation, getting glasses, adjusting to a new baby in the family, or writing a story for a homework assignment. The humor and familiarity of the situations often help readers deal with similar events in their own lives. According to Brown, the Arthur series was written for families rather than specifically for children. His goal is “delivering information on a particular issue that kids or parents are struggling with.” He adds, “I would hope that Arthur is a character who helps children be more successful in dealing with growing up.” Most of the characters in the Arthur series are characters inspired by people Brown knew when he was growing up and going to school. Mr. Ratburn was based on “the meanest algebra teacher ever”, Grandma Thora was based on Brown’s real grandmother Thora, “the best storyteller ever”, and Buster was Brown’s best friend in elementary school. Brown also used his own sisters and children for character role models and for many of the Arthur story ideas. Over the years, Arthur’s popularity has continued to grow. By 1996, Arthur was firmly established as one of the top-selling children’s book characters. Soon, networks began approaching Brown about developing an Arthur television series, but Brown passed on the offers. Next came a call from PBS. Instead of looking at Arthur as a commercial entity, PBS suggested Brown use the Arthur television series to attract children to the library to read the books. Brown liked PBS’s idea and the animated Arthur television series made its debut in 1997. Before Arthur was televised, approximately 3 million Arthur books were sold over a period of 20 years. After three and a half years on television, more than 25 million copies of the Arthur series were sold! Not only were a lot of Arthur books sold, but Arthur quickly became a top-rated children’s show for PBS. By 2000, the Arthur show was not only the top-rated kids show (ages 4 to 8), but also the top preschool program (ages 2 to 5), and the number one children’s series (ages 2 to 11) on TV. The Arthur television series has also appeared in sixty countries worldwide and has garnered three prestigious Emmy awards. Arthur celebrated his 25th year on May 25, 2001. Special activities for the event included a 10 city tour of the “Arthur’s World” exhibit, an Arthur writing contest sponsored by Borders and Parenting and Family Life magazines, and distribution of an Arthur anniversary poster by Pizza Hut. The Pizza Hut- Arthur poster titled, “Book It!” promoted a reading incentive program and was distributed in 800,000 classrooms throughout the United States, as well as to 24,000 preschool and pre-kindergarten facilities. Other interesting Arthur trivia:
Click
here for Arthur products. |
||