The Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club

For goodness sake, turn that light off and go to sleep

Summary
Arthur and the gang fight back when a group called "Parents Against Weird Stories" wants to ban their favorite ghost-story books from the library.

Plot
Arthur explains that since he began reading the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club books, he could not stop until he was done, relating to others who have felt the same way reading other books.

Arthur is then shown continuously reading a Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Book in several situations: in the morning, barely touching his breakfast; at school, when he does not notice that class was over; and at recess, where Francine drops a comb with two magnets to make Arthur lose his glasses while he was hanging upside-down on the jungle gym. Then Dad catches Arthur late at night under the blanket reading the book with a flashlight, and tells him to turn off the flashlight and go to sleep. However, Arthur says, "Wait, Dad — I'm almost done. I can't stop until I know how it...", only for Dad to turn the flashlight off as Arthur finishes with "ends."

One Saturday morning, Dad makes a stack of waffles for his family for breakfast, but accidentally knocks them into the air when Arthur bumps into him, tying his shoes while hopping. Dad successfully catches all the waffles onto plates, then tells Arthur to eat first. Arthur quickly eats both his waffles, then rushes out of the house, telling them he has to get to the library fast to check out the new Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Book. Unfortunately, he sees a long line of kids waiting outside the Elwood City Public Library for the same reason. He catches up with Buster, the Brain, Francine, Muffy, Sue Ellen and Prunella at the end of the line, saying that they could read some older horror books the library has. Then the scene cuts to Arthur and his friends all alone in the midst of a spooky scene in front of the library. The door opens, and the scene cuts back to real life, with Ms. Turner standing at the door. She announces that "all Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Books", including the new installment, "have been removed from our shelves until further notice". The scene reverts to the earlier spooky scene, where Arthur and his friends scream in panic, and a ghost-like Ms. Turner goes back into the library, slamming the door shut.

It is revealed on the news that a parents' organization called Parents Against Weird Stories (P.A.W.S.) is responsible for the removal of the books from the library, saying "the scary stories are bad for kids". The newscasters were unable to get comments from the books' author E.A. D'Poe, and goes on to announce P.A.W.S.' rally for other concerned parents, taking place tomorrow in front of the library. As Arthur, Buster, Francine and the Brain lay outside in the yard, Arthur encourages them to take action, saying that they haven't given up before, mentioning situations such as the four of them cleaning the garage so they could go see a movie. However, Buster was balancing a broom on his nose, and bumps into Arthur, knocking down wooden boards and spilling a jar of paint. Francine slips on a can, scattering a bag of collected trash in her arms. Arthur also mentions himself, Francine and the Brain helping Buster in math, where Buster struggled with answers despite the three of them and Pal wearing placards with an equation written out. Arthur, Buster, Francine, the Brain, Sue Ellen and Prunella walk down a street, agreeing to get people to sign a petition to get the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Books back. Muffy, however, spots them and hides as they walk by.

Buster collects signatures with a panicking Arthur walking on a low tightrope over a kiddie pool to get people's attention. Francine collects signatures while playing jump rope with Sue Ellen and Prunella turning the rope. The Brain collects signatures from adults who are simply confused by his explanations. They agreed to sign as long as he stops to stop his continuous explanations. Prunella collects signatures at a skating rink, and Sue Ellen collects signatures from joggers. Arthur finds a volunteer gardener who is concerned when he mentions the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Books as his favorite book series, and that P.A.W.S. (mentioned as "a parents' group") has taken them away. The gardener walks off encouraging Arthur and his friends to not give up, mentioning that she will speak to P.A.W.S. Arthur then realizes that she did not sign the petition. Outside the ice cream parlor, Muffy tells Arthur, Buster, Francine and the Brain that they are invited to her big party at Wonderworld. They all see Mr. and Mrs. Crosswire on a news interview on TV sets on display at the electronics store across the street: Mrs. Crosswire states that "kids don't know the harm these books do", and declares that Muffy got nightmares from reading just one book. Mr. Crosswire then mentions that he and Mrs. Crosswire started P.A.W.S. to save other kids from the same fate. Disgusted, the four kids turn to Muffy, who states that anybody against P.A.W.S. is not allowed to come to her party, leaving the four kids shocked. Muffy then walks off calling the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Books "silly". At home, Mom encourages Arthur to do what he thinks is right despite a sacrifice; dressing up as a clown for a children's charity benefit, Dad tells Arthur to not "be afraid to look foolish for something you believe in".

The next day, Mr. Crosswire speaks at the rally outside the library. Arthur shows the signed petition to Mr. Crosswire, who is still unconvinced to return the books. The gardener from the other day speaks from the crowd, asking Mr. Crosswire if he has read any of the books. Mr. Crosswire responds that he wouldn't read any of the books even if he was paid to. The gardener appears from the crowd, and Mr. Crosswire is surprised when he recognizes her to be his grade school English teacher Ms. McWord. She mentions that Mr. Crosswire was never a reader, and goes on to say that the writer works so hard to write books kids like to read, so that they would want to read other books as well. Ms. McWord also proudly states that she is the author of the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Books under the pen name E.A. D'Poe.

Excited, Muffy empties her backpack full of her collection of Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Books so that she can have them autographed. Her parents are surprised that it wasn't the books that gave her nightmares; Mr. Crosswire reveals that his hasenpfeffer ice cream had disappeared and Mrs. Crosswire says to an ashamed Muffy "You know it gives you nightmares Muffy. How could you?" Mr. Crosswire agrees to have a Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Book read to him, so he can see what it's like.

Everybody at the rally gathers in the library listening to Ms. McWord as she reads aloud the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Book, The Haunted Hamburger Stand. Mr. Crosswire admits it was wrong of him to stop kids from reading books he hasn't read. Everyone rejoices as Mr. Crosswire agrees to return the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Books as long as Ms. McWord reads another one aloud. The episode finishes as she reads another one of the books to everyone's enjoyment.

Major

 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * The Brain
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Ms. McWord
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Prunella Deegan
 * Francine Frensky

Minor

 * David Read
 * Jane Read
 * D.W. Read
 * Ed Crosswire
 * Millicent Crosswire

Cameo

 * Alex
 * Kenny
 * Otis
 * Steve
 * Mrs. Tibble
 * George Lundgren
 * Jenna Morgan
 * 3rd Grade Male Cat
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 2)
 * 3rd Grade Male Rat
 * 3rd Grade Male Rabbit
 * Beulah McInnerny
 * 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
 * Nancy
 * Helen
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
 * Luke
 * Mary
 * Jessica

Trivia

 * In the episode, Alex's name was first revealed when he signed a petition. Alex's name would not be seen again until the Season 13 episode, "MacFrensky".
 * After Ms. DePoe says "Do you read them, er...", the camera moves from one angle to another in front of the tree as a special effect.
 * This is the final episode when the characters have white tongues.
 * This is also the last episode when Muffy has buck teeth.
 * In this episode, all of the Scare-Your-Pants-Off books have nearly identical covers featuring the series logo of a kid screaming. Other episodes, including the earlier "Arthur's Lost Library Book", depict the books each having their own cover unique to the story (and in some cases, such as The Mysterious Hand, featuring a small version of the "screaming kid" logo on the cover.)
 * Moral: You always have to do what you think is right, regardless if it means making a sacrifice.
 * Timeline:
 * In "Buster Hits the Books", Buster claims he's never read any books, yet here, Buster talks about all the Scare! books he's read, concluding that Buster Hits the Books is a prequel to this episode.
 * The outfit that Mr. Read wears is exactly like what he had on in "Arthur's Cousin Catastrophe".
 * Karma: Muffy tried to not help her friends, so she got caught by her parents.

Cultural references

 * This episode is a reference to the controversy of the Goosebumps books by R.L. Stine in the 1990s.
 * When the kids hear the books have been banned, they look like Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream".
 * The premise of this episode is similar to the half-hour special "SpongeBob's Last Stand", as they both involve a group of people wanting to prevent the destruction of an area that's about to be demolished for construction. (However, here it's books)
 * The premise of this episode is also similar to Laked!
 * The pen name E.A. D'Poe is a reference to English author Edgar Allan Poe.
 * The episode makes actions of the faces, which may be a possible reference to the 1990 film .

Episode connections

 * In the end, the outside view of the Elwood City Public Library is a recycled scene from "Locked in the Library!".

Errors

 * On the awning for the Mrs. Powers's ice cream shop, the letter "I" is shown as a small letter while the rest were all capital letters.
 * In one scene, Francine's #5 jacket has black sleeves like the torso part when its sleeves are actually white.
 * Muffy's buck teeth appear and disappear in different scenes.
 * In the scene where the kids watch Muffy's parents on the TV in the shop, Muffy's red shirt changes to her regular dress for a second and then in the next shot back to her red dress.

Home video
VHS: DVD:
 * Arthur Gets Spooked (VHS)
 * Arthur Gets Spooked (DVD)