The Strange Disappearance of Arthur Cluck (I Can Read Book) by Nathaniel Benchley

by Nathaniel Benchley

When Mama Cluck loses Arthur, her baby chick, the owl detective fights a fox, harasses a pack rat, and finally finds the best clue, a colored Easter Egg.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Mystery

Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1967

About the author

Born in Newton, Massachusetts to a literary family, he was the son of Gertrude Darling and Robert Benchley (1889-1945), the noted American writer, humorist, critic, actor, and one of the founders of the Algonquin Round Table in New York City.

Nathaniel Benchley was the highly-respected author of many children's/juvenile books that provided learning for the youthful readers with stories of various animals or through the book's historical settings. Benchley dealt with diverse locales and topics such as "Bright Candles", which recounts the experiences of a 16-year-old Danish boy during the German occupation of his country in World War II; and "Small Wolf", a story about a Native American boy who meets white men on the island of Manhattan and learns that their ideas about land are different from those of his own peoples'.

Film director/producer, Norman Jewison made Benchley's 1961 novel The Off-Islanders into a motion picture titled The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming for which he received the nomination for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. He was a close friend of actor Humphrey Bogart and wrote his biography in 1975.

Benchley's novel Welcome to Xanadu was made into the 1975 motion picture Sweet Hostage.

His elder son, Peter Benchley (1940-2006), was a writer best known for writing the novel Jaws and the screenplay of the 1975 Steven Spielberg film made from it. His younger son, Nat Benchley, is a writer and actor who has portrayed his grandfather, Robert Benchley, in a one-man, semi-biographical stage show, "Benchley Despite Himself". The show was a compilation of Robert Benchley's best monologues, short films, radio rantings and pithy pieces as recalled, edited, and acted by his grandson Nat, and combined with family reminiscences and friends' perspectives."

Nathaniel Benchley died in 1981 in Boston, Massachusetts and was interred in the family plot at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Nantucket.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young chick disappears one morning and his mother is distraught. In her search she asks a barn owl to help her look. The barn owl investigates the disappearance uncovering other animals nighttime pursuits in the process.

The story has a happy ending, the illustrations are lovely and this is fun to read. I really like the 'I Can Read' series, such a good variety of different subject matter, different styles of illustrations and good quality stories. One minor downside with this one is that the barn owl clearly isn't a barn owl and would have been better off just being called an owl. Other than that, a good beginner reader book.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Arthur had been a popular name that year."

Love all the surreal bits and pieces this year, from the dark backgrounded cover, to the chick riding his mom's head, to the different animals having different ideas of what makes chicks disappear, to the not-a-barn owl going all detective (including a fight with a fox) to the dramatic rescue.

I would have loved this as a child... and I got a kick out of it today, too. Benchley's pretty darn brilliant.
---
Reread. That chick is very lucky that Ralph and the fox have, apparently, already had their dinners.... A fairly advanced leveled reader... for all ages.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

An oldie but goodie!!

Arthur is missing and his mother can’t find him. She asks the owl to assist in her search, and after a twist and a couple chuckles, Arthur is found.

Be sure to get this one for your budding reader!

But be careful. This book could make you do this 😜: watch my reel!

Ages: 2 - 8
Grades: 1st - 3rd

Content Considerations: nothing to note.

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[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The night was full of baby chickens." I wait for that phrase every time I read the book, and every time it is awesome. So the mystery is thin, and one might question what will happen to Arthur in the end, but, "the night was full of baby chickens"!!!!!!!

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disappointed that the (specifically-named) "barn owl" is erroneously drawn as a great horned owl.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of a little chick named Arthur Cluck who disappears from the farm. A wise old owl aids his mother in searching for her young chick. It was an okay story, with excellent illustrations by Arnold Lobel. I recently visited the Maurice Sendak exhibit at the Denver Museum of Art, and I wish they'd do one on Arnold Lobel. He was such a fascinating artist and writer. My rating - 3/5

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deserves more than 5 stars! My son loves this book that was handed down by his dad!

[Sem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lobel didn't know one owl species from another but Ralph is more amusing with plumicorns.

[Jenn]

Pretty darn adorable! And the art is amazing. A delightful flea market find.

[Boris Gregoric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published in 1967 still a classic with
great 'pictures' from Arnold Lobel.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reason for Reading: Ds read-aloud to me as his reader

Benchley and Lobel pair up once again for another book in this popular series. This is a cute story. Mrs. Cluck can't find her son, Arthur, one day and goes around asking all the farm animals if they've seen him. They are all absolutely useless until she comes to the cow who suggests she talks to Ralph the barn owl. Ralph tells her he can't help her in the daytime but when he goes out at night he'll look for Arthur. The story takes a turn as we follow Ralph as he searches the barn, farmyard and woods at night looking for lost Arthur Cluck. How he finds him is good for a giggle inducing ending. No need to comment really on the illustrations, they are just as wonderful as one expects from Arnold Lobel even though he has a limited palette of greens and yellows with black added for the night scenes.

It's strange that they've let this one go out-of-print with the popular author/artist combo and a story that is timeless. I do prefer these older books over the modern ones as they are more phonetically sound and a reader can decode new or large words easily enough more often than not, while the modern ones throw in impossibly non-phonetic words that leave a struggling reader frustrated.

[St-Michel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah! A classic children's book. What's that? Why a children's book? Well, I remember growing up and I absolutely loved this book. I couldn't possibly even recount the number of times that I've read this in my youth. What's more, out of all the books I had as a kid, this is one of the only few surviving ones in my collection, for as with most of us where all children's books eventually go the way of the occasional garage sale or Salvation Army run, this was one I could never part with.

[elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite childhood books. It held up well when I read it with my kids. Another one that I loved that was illustrated by Lobel, but not written by him.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for children who love mystery books. On recommended book list

[Lapriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some strange reason, I liked this book as a child too.

[Deborah Harris]

LI 2.25 GRL-K

[WSL Library]

x3

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely my new favorite I Can Read classic. A little bit of Chicken Little and a dash of Little Red Hen, plus some Are You My Mother.