Arthur's Teacher Trouble

Last updated
Arthur's Teacher Trouble
Arthurcover.jpg
Author Marc Brown
IllustratorMarc Brown
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesArthur
Genre Children's literature
Publisher Little, Brown and Company
The Living Books Company
Publication date
1986
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages30
ISBN 978-0-87113-091-4
OCLC 13185290
Preceded byArthur's Tooth 
Followed byArthur's Baby 

Arthur's Teacher Trouble is a book in the Arthur series, released in 1986. [1] It was written by Marc Brown and published by Little, Brown and Company and The Living Books Company. [2]

Contents

Plot

On the first day of school, Arthur and his classmates are given homework by the teacher Mr. Ratburn, leaving them distraught. Later, the principal, Mr. Haney, announces that there will be a Spellathon in the coming weeks. One day, Mr. Ratburn tells the class to study hard for a test to see who will qualify as representatives for the Spellathon. Eventually, Arthur and The Brain end up being chosen and are given lists of words to study. On the day of the Spellathon, the representatives of each class are eliminated one by one until Arthur is the only one left. He manages to win the trophy after spelling "Preparation" correctly. In the end, Mr. Ratburn announces to the audience that he will be teaching Kindergarten, much to D.W.'s dismay.

Adaptations

Computer game

Rereleased box cover of the computer game Arthurtt.jpg
Rereleased box cover of the computer game

The book was adapted into a computer game by Living Books in 1992. [3] It was later turned into a smartphone app in 2012. [4] It is the first of five Arthur books to be adapted into a computer game, and the second game released from the Living Books series. [5] [6] Unlike the television series, which separated the original book into two mini-episodes, the game keeps the story as one.

Television episodes

The title was also adapted into two television episodes in the Arthur TV series. They were titled as "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn" and "Arthur's Spelling Trouble." The episodes aired together on October 8, 1996. VHS releases of "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn" change the title card to "Arthur's Teacher Trouble" to reference the original book.

Reception

Initial critical reception for the book was mostly positive, with the Living Books adaptation being particularly praised. [3] [7] [8] [9] The Living Books adaptation was given a platinum award at the 1994 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Awards. The judges praised the program's "good-natured sense of humor" and said that "[e]very page bursts with images that come to life" [10] The editors of Electronic Entertainment presented Arthur's Teacher Trouble with their 1993 "Best Edutainment Title" award. They wrote, "The most captivating thing about Arthur's Teacher Trouble—the best installment in Broderbund's excellent Living Books series—is how kids immediately identify with the characters and the story." [11]

Later critical reviews expressed concern over the media effects of the book, with David Wray stating in Literacy: Major Themes in Education that much of the effects were "incongruent to the story". [12] Matt Jackson of the Children's Literature Association commented that the Living Book software's features gave off the impression that "passivity is bad" and questioned the product's packaging phrasing of "Children don't just read them. They live them.", in that it inferred that books were inferior to CD-Roms. [13] Jackson also criticized the book's usage of stereotypes, such as Arthur's teacher Mr. Ratburn being a "stereotypical male teacher — a mean disciplinarian, a student's worst fear". [13] Ann Trousdale also criticized the stereotyping of Ratburn, writing that he "dominates and oppresses his students" and is almost a caricature. [14]

Related Research Articles

<i>Arthur</i> (TV series) Animated series (1996–2022)

Arthur is an animated edutainment television series for children ages 4 to 8, developed by Kathy Waugh for PBS and produced by WGBH. The show is set in the fictional U.S. city of Elwood City and revolves around the lives of Arthur Read, an anthropomorphic aardvark, his friends and family, and their daily interactions with each other.

<i>Miracle Piano Teaching System</i> 1990 video game

The Miracle Piano Teaching System is educational software which uses a MIDI keyboard to teach how to play the piano. It was published in 1990 by The Software Toolworks for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, Macintosh, Amiga, Sega Genesis, and MS-DOS compatible operating systems.

<i>Quarky & Quaysoos Turbo Science</i> 1992 video game

Quarky & Quaysoo's Turbo Science is an educational computer game developed by Jeff Tunnell Productions and published by Sierra On-Line for MS-DOS in early 1992. It was designed to teach scientific concepts to children.

<i>Treasure MathStorm!</i> 1992 video game

Treasure MathStorm! is an educational computer game intended to teach children ages five to nine mathematical problem solving. This sequel to Treasure Mountain! is the sixth installment of The Learning Company's Super Seekers games and the second in its "Treasure" series.

<i>OutNumbered!</i> 1990 video game

OutNumbered! is an educational video game published by The Learning Company in 1990 for both Windows and Macintosh PCs. It is aimed at children ages seven to fourteen and is designed to teach children mathematical computation and problem solving skills.

<i>Living Books</i> Interactive storybook series

Living Books is a series of interactive read-along adventures aimed at children aged 3–9. Created by Mark Schlichting, the series was mostly developed by Living Books for CD-ROM and published by Broderbund for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. Two decades after the original release, the series was re-released by Wanderful Interactive Storybook for iOS and Android.

<i>Spellbound!</i> 1991 video game

Spellbound! is an educational computer game made and distributed by The Learning Company aimed at teaching spelling, vocabulary, and language development to children ages 7 to 12 years. The objective of the game is to play spelling-related games to qualify and compete for successively higher bracket spelling bees, concluding with the player competing in the national spelling bee. The original game, released in 1991, was compatible with computers running DOS 3.3 or higher. A 1993 CD release added spoken dialogue and was compatible with Windows 95 and Macintosh.

An interactive storybook is a children's story packaged with animated graphics, sound or other interactive elements. Such stories are usually published as software on CD-ROMs. They have also been referred to as computer books, picture book programs, books-on-disk, talking books, or living books.

McGee is a series of computer games released by Lawrence Productions for Kindergarteners ages 2–4.

Mark Schlichting is a publisher, author, and digital pioneer of children's multimedia and interactive design software. He is best known as the creator and subsequent Design and Art Director of Broderbund's Living Books series including the original 1994 Living Books PC game Harry and the Haunted House, one of the first lines of children's interactive book software on CD-ROM. Schlichting was Design and Art Director for Living Book's first interactive CD-ROM book adaptation, Mercer Mayer’s Just Grandma and Me, which was one of the first software titles accredited as a school textbook and used as a product demonstration by Apple CEO John Sculley.

The Oppenheim Toy Portfolio is a nationally recognized independent consumer review of children's media. It was founded in 1989 by child development authors Joanne Oppenheim and her daughter Stephanie Oppenheim. The newsletter is published quarterly and have held an annual series of awards that have gained attention in the industry. They have spoken on children psychology/behavior, toys, and child media on OPRAH, CNN, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, MSNBC, Lifetime, and both are Contributors to NBC's TODAY Show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanderful Interactive Storybooks</span>

Wanderful Interactive Storybooks is a developer of interactive storybook apps based on the titles originally published as Living Books by Broderbund Software.

<i>Disneys Animated Storybook</i> Interactive storybook video game series

Disney's Animated Storybook is a point-and-click adventure interactive storybook video game series based on Walt Disney feature animations and Pixar films that were released throughout the 1990s. They were published by Disney Interactive for personal computers for children ages four to eight years old. Starting from 1994, most of the entries in the series were developed by Media Station. They have the same plots as their respective films, though abridged due to the limited medium.

<i>Early Learning House</i> 1990s collection of educational video games and compilations

Early Learning House or simply the House Series is a collection of four main educational video games and two compilations for the Windows and Macintosh platforms, developed by Theatrix Interactive, Inc. and published by Edmark software. Each different game focuses on a particular major learning category with selectable skill settings for preschooler, kindergarten and elementary learners. Millie's Math House (1992) on mathematics, Bailey's Book House (1993) on language, Sammy's Science House (1994) on science, and Trudy's Time and Place House (1995) on history and geography. A spin-off, Stanley's Sticker Stories (1996), sees players create animated storybooks with the series' characters. Millie & Bailey Preschool and Millie & Bailey Kindergarten each contain the combined activities from two of the four software products. In addition the programs can be configured by an adult mode to suit students with special needs. Most of the activities in every game have two modes, one to allow learners to explore and try it out for themselves and the other for learners to follow specific tasks set by the game characters. Learners also have the option to print pictures of creative activities and record sounds in phonics activities. Later the games were re-developed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology and re-published by The Learning Company with newer graphics and additional activities.

The Arthur video games franchise was a series of learning and interactive story video games based on the American-Canadian children's TV show Arthur. The games were released in the 1990s and 2000s for PlayStation and Windows and Mac OS computers.

<i>Math Blaster!</i> 1983 video game

Math Blaster! is a 1983 edutainment video game, and the first entry in the "Math Blaster" series within the Blaster Learning System created by Davidson & Associates. The game was developed by former educator Jan Davidson. It would be revised and ported to newer hardware and operating systems, with enhanced versions rebranded as Math Blaster Plus! (1987), followed by New Math Blaster Plus! (1990). A full redesign was done in 1993 as Math Blaster Episode I: In Search of Spot and again in 1996 as Mega Math Blaster.

<i>3-D Dinosaur Adventure</i> 1993 educational video game

3-D Dinosaur Adventure is an educational video game by Knowledge Adventure released on CD-ROM for MS-DOS compatible operating systems in 1993. Versions for Macintosh and Windows 3.x were published in 1996. A 1997 re-release and an updated version for Macintosh and Microsoft Windows is titled 3-D Dinosaur Adventure: Anniversary Edition.

<i>Reader Rabbits Ready for Letters</i> 1992 educational video game

Reader Rabbit's Ready for Letters is a 1992 video game and the fifth game of the Reader Rabbit franchise. Although a spin-off title, it is designed for ages 3 to 6 to teach prereaders about becoming literate and phonics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone</span> 1st episode of the 22nd season of Arthur

"Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone" is the first segment of the first episode of the 22nd season of the animated educational television series Arthur. It was the first episode of Arthur to feature a same-sex wedding, a depiction that resulted in two PBS affiliates in Arkansas and Alabama choosing not to air the episode's premiere on May 13, 2019.

References

  1. ↑ Children's Literature Association Quarterly. 1996. 1996. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  2. ↑ Brown, Kathleen J. (December 1999). "What Kind of Text: For Whom and When? Textual Scaffolding for Beginning Readers". The Reading Teacher. 53 (4): 292–307. JSTOR   20204794.
  3. 1 2 "Forging Ahead or Fit to be Smashed?". Computer Gaming World. April 1993. p. 24. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  4. ↑ "The Living Books Series Returns as Storybook Apps". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  5. ↑ Smith, Geoff. "'Arthur's Teacher' entertains kids". Boston Herald. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  6. ↑ Kelly, James Floyd. "Trying Out Digital Storybooks With a 4-Year-Old, Part 3: Arthur Reads Series". Wired. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  7. ↑ "The Horn Book Magazine Volume LXXIII: January–December 1997, p 224" (PDF). Horn Book. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  8. ↑ Oldenburg, Don. "Computers; Plugging In For a Fun Read". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  9. ↑ "SCHOOL KIDS CAN RELATE TO THE BELLS AND BOOKS IN 'TEACHER TROUBLE'". Deseret News. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  10. ↑ Oppenheim, Joanne and Stephanie (1993). "Computer Software/CD-ROM - CD ROM and Multimedia Technology: 'Arthur's Teacher Trouble'". The Best Toys, Books & Videos for Kids. Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Guide Book. Vol. 1 (1st ed.). New York: Harper Perennial. p. 277. ISBN   0-06-273196-3.
  11. ↑ Staff (March 1994). "The First Electronic Entertainment Editors' Choice Awards". Electronic Entertainment . 1 (3): 61–65.
  12. ↑ Wray, David (2004). Literacy: Major Themes in Education, Volume 4. Routledge. pp. 147–150. ISBN   0415277124.
  13. 1 2 Jackson, Matt (Spring 1997). "The Troubling Lessons of Arthur's Teacher Trouble: Old Stereotypes in a New Commodity". Children's Literature Association Quarterly. 22 (1): 30–36. doi:10.1353/chq.0.1194. S2CID   144016699 . Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  14. ↑ Trousdale, Ann (Spring 1992). "Why Is This Teacher Smiling? Portrayals of Teachers in Picture Books for Young Children". Feminist Teacher. 6 (3): 25–31.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.