King Arthur

Arthur Chapter Books #13

by Marc Brown

The competition is heating up at a school vs. school event! Fans of the hit PBS Kids show Arthur will be rooting for their favorite aardvark and his classmates in this engaging chapter book.
 
Arthur's third-grade class is competing at the Middle Ages Fair against Glenbrook Academy. Mr. Ratburn says that his class has never won the competition before, so Arthur and his friends are determined to break that pattern this year.
 
But Arthur is disqualified after falling through a wall in Merlin's Labyrinth, and his class goes on to lose at tug-of-war and even the pie-eating contest! The only challenge left is to pull a sword from a stone. Is there still time for Arthur and his classmates to show Glenbrook who the real winners are?
 
In chapter-book format, this exciting Medieval-style adventure will be a hit among Arthur fans who are ready to read on their own.

Genres: Chapter Books, Childrens, Audiobook, Juvenile

58 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1999

About the author

Marc Tolon Brown is perhaps best known for his series of children's books about Arthur the aardvark, which was turned into an animated television show on PBS. Brown is a three-time Emmy Award winner, for his role on the television show inspired by his books.

He lives on Martha's Vineyard and in New York City with his wife, Laurie Krasny Brown. He has three children, sons Tolon and Tucker, and daughter Eliza. The names of his two sons have been hidden in all of the Arthur books except for one: Arthur's Tooth.

Reviews

[Hunter Lisiecki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it when Arthur became king at the end!

[Christina Senf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read. It was about Arthur and his class going to a competition where they had various games to pass. They had a pie eating contest. A tug of war, and they even had to build a castle out of various materials. Arthur's class kept losing every game. All these games were to be set in the middle ages. There was a sword in the stone that throughout the story everyone tried to pull it out. The students in Arthur's class thought that their teacher would be replaced if they lost at all the games. When the last game was played and they lost once again, Arthur tried one more time to pull the sword out of the stone. He remembered what his teacher had told him and pulled the sword out with ease. This is how the story ended and Mr. Ratburn was proud of his students for they truly learned from him and took his lessons to heart.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is about two schools at a fair. They are loosing every event such as pie eating, history trivia, and others. they lost the last one and they knew they were going to lose only one person could pull out the sword, and that team would gain enough points to beat every other event combined sometimes no one could pull out the sword. But Arthur tried he remembered the past "the smoother the better" so he did it and their school won and Arthur was king of the fair. I liked this book. I recommend this book to people that like Surprises and action.

[Anne Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this to my seven-year-old over the course of a couple nights before bed. The episode of this story is obviously more visual, but this is a nice novelization. Arthur books are always worth reading, and we are enjoying the chapter books. This makes a good addition to the family library, as my son is already eager to read it to himself.

ETA: I don't think this book will work for you if you are not already a fan of the show, since much of the tension depends on knowing the characters well. However, for fans of Arthur, this is a nice, if average, story.

[Lynsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I like about the Arthur books is that they assume a reader who is able to grasp the topics in them, and they don't dumb them down. In this volume, there's a lot of information on the Middle Ages that could easily be made boring, but they're presented in a clever way through a Renaissance Faire. This book also teaches kids to work smart, not hard, which is a valuable lesson best learned early on.

[Kelly Wickham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Israel wasn't quite ready for this book. The vocabulary was difficult for him and the storyline a bit confusing and over his head. He said that he still enjoyed it though. It's just one of those books that they take from the storyline of an episode and turn it into a book to read. Kids want to read because it is familiar with what they have seen on TV but it is definitely not great literature.

[Nyameba Adom]

D

[melhara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This children's book is an adaptation of the second half of Season 3, Episode 9 of Arthur, in which Arthur and his class go on a field trip to a Middle Ages Fair and competes against another school on various medieval-themed challenges.

I got this book secondhand from my boyfriend (it was one of the books he and his sister read as kids) - I found many words that were underlined with definitions scribbled in the margins (some of them incorrect...lol). There are certainly many opportunities for kids to learn more about medieval times and related vocabulary through this book.

----------------------------------------------
Part of a personal challenge to read all of my boyfriend's and his sister's childhood books before we donate and give them away.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book version of the television show is one of my favorite in the series of Stephen Krensky Arthur books.
Mr. Ratburn's class, which uusually outshines all others when it comes to matters of third-grade academia, find itself matched up with stronger versions of each of them when they face off against Mr. Ratburn's former grade-school teacher Mr. Price-Jones in a series of medieval games.
Feeling stymied at every turn, it is only when Arthur thinks for himself and tries his own idea that the effectiveness of Mr. Ratburn's teaching techniques is really shown to be as strong as it is.
I liked this television episode, and the book was also enjoyable.

[Amieer Ayyad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a kid named Arthur and he loves to be adventurous with his friends. I like this book because it's fun and nice to read. I recommend this book to my mom because I think she will like it.

[Leigha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked it and you learn about knights too.

[Cws]

JEAR3-Bro