Maria Pappas

Maria (see name, below) is a third grader who attends Mr. Ratburn's class at Lakewood Elementary School.

Pre-Lakewood years
Maria is not in the class picture of Mrs. Robertson's kindergarten class from three years ago, meaning that she came to Lakewood at a later year than the majority of her current classmates did.

Second grade
Maria was present at Lakewood Elementary in second grade, but was not in Mr. Marco's class, unlike most of her third grade classmates. Her most noteworthy event during this year was walking into the girls' bathroom when Arthur had accidentally entered moments earlier.

Third grade
When Principal Haney announced that she and her classmates were going to be in Ratburn's class, Maria screamed with the rest of the crowd. Eventually, she became used to Ratburn and now likes being in his class.

Future life
In a possible glimpse into the future, an adult Maria is in the crowd behind President Mary Alice Crosswire at the new president's inauguration ceremony. Maria wears a trench coat and holds a notepad, suggesting she will be a journalist. It is unknown if this is actually a glimpse of Maria's future.

Quietness
Maria is normally quiet in class, usually from shyness. In spite of this, however, she does often participate in class lessons. She is also willing to have lines in a class play, so long as they aren't solo lines. She once said something that upset Francine, although exactly what she said is unknown.

Average student
Maria received a 'C' on one of Mr. Ratburn's quizzes. For a history report she had given orally, the grade she received was a 'B'. On Mr. Ratburn's Student of the Month chart, Maria ranks low compared to most other students; she had the fourth lowest score, slightly behind Fern.

Interests
Maria likes the Scare-Your-Pants-Off series, the Finnish band BINKY, and several sports, for example basketball and soccer. Maria likes hopscotch and reading. Maria owns a doll that she plays with on occasion. She is also a fan of Bionic Bunny. Her favorite food appears to be cheese, considering how she brought a plate of cheese for the 'one food to bring to a desert island' project.

Club activities
Despite never talking, Maria is a member of the Lakewood Elementary Choir. Maria also plays the tambourine for the school band. She participates on the Track and Field Team and was a member of the Lakewood Pride Committee during its short existence. She also often visits the community center and the library.

Alex
Maria and Alex are friends. They are with each other more often than with any of their other classmates.

Buster
Buster once bounced a crumbled piece of paper on her head, which annoyed her. However, they are still friends, seen in the facts that Maria danced with Buster at Prunella's birthday party and that they talked at Jenna's Athlete of the Year party. When Arthur imagined that Buster would suck his thumb all the time, he imagined Maria gasping in shock at Buster. When Buster imagined having a large family, Maria was in his fantasy as a family member of unspecified relation.

Fern
Maria and Fern have gone to the Ice Cream Shoppe to get ice cream and a drink. They also did a hand-clapping game together.

Jenna
Maria talks with Jenna and sometimes walks to class with her.

John
Maria has been seen talking with John.

Muffy
She and Muffy went scuba diving in Muffy's pool when Arthur told them that Buster was coming home.

Prunella
Prunella must know Maria somehow because she invited her as one of her six guests to her birthday party.

Sue Ellen
She and Sue Ellen went to the Harvest Day festival together. They sometimes also share a desk group.

"3rd Grade Male Rat"
He and Maria went to see the Bionic Bunny 5-movie marathon together.

Mother
Maria's mother was with Maria at the Sugar Bowl and at David's Toys.

Steve
Maria's older brother Steve also goes to Lakewood. They often talk with each other between classes. The two were confirmed to be related by their participation in the brother-and-sister race at the Annual Picnic.

Physical appearance
Maria is an anthropomorphic rabbit with a cream complexion. She wears a light blue skirt, a dark blue and pink striped shirt, and brown shoes. She has orange-brown hair in the form of a. Not including her ears, she is a few inches taller than Arthur. In some instances, though, her height has varied from preschooler size to Prunella's size.

Alternate apparel

 * In the fall, she wears a magenta jacket, a magenta jacket with buttons, or a blue jacket.
 * In the winter, she wears a green-blue jacket, a pink scarf, pink mittens, purple leggings, and snow boots.
 * For cold weather, she sometimes instead wears a pink sweater, teal sweatpants, and green-blue sneakers.
 * In the summertime she wears a pink T-shirt with light blue stripes and a white collar, a light blue dress, and her usual brown shoes.
 * For hot weather, she will also wear a light blue T-shirt and dark blue shorts.
 * She wore a light blue and pink swimsuit while swimming at Muffy's mansion.
 * She also wore an orange swimsuit with an orange scuba mask, oxygen tank, and black flippers when scuba diving with Muffy in her pool.
 * She has had two different types of formal clothes. One was a white shirt, a blue dress, long white socks, and brown shoes. She wore this outfit for a class picture, albeit in Brain's dream. Her other outfit was worn at Muffy's Christmas party: a green dress with a red collar and red sash, long red socks, and black Mary Jane shoes.
 * At Prunella's birthday party, she wore a pink sweater with a dark blue collar and her usual light blue skirt.
 * For sleeping, Maria wears pink pajamas.
 * Her gym clothes are a light blue T-shirt, dark blue shorts, white socks, and red and white sneakers.
 * When she participates in track and field, she wears the new green and yellow uniform.
 * She also wore a karate uniform when learning karate at the community center.
 * Her costume for the Thomas Edison play was a dark blue top hat, a burgundy coat, olive green trousers, a white collared shirt, and a magenta necktie.
 * Her costume for the Elwood City centennial play was a white long-sleeved shirt, a pink vest, jeans, dark blue sneakers, and a pink baseball cap.
 * After Buster ate the remainder of his fundraiser chocolates, he imagined the school band with makeshift instruments and old uniforms. Maria was wearing a dark blue button-down shirt with gold highlights and gold shirt cuffs, gold suspenders, an alizarin crimson skirt, and tan cowboy boots with gold stripes.
 * Maria wore a surgical mask, hairnet, and medical scrubs when she and the class were making ice cream. She wore a surgical mask again in one of Francine's imagination sequences.
 * She was briefly seen with a haircut when she and her mother went to the Ice Cream Shoppe.
 * At a presidential inauguration in the possible future, Maria wears a brown trench coat.

Glasses
One time in second grade when she was talking with John in the hallway, Maria was wearing glasses. She wore her glasses through the first days of third grade, but stopped wearing them after that year's Spellathon. It is implied that now she wears contact lenses instead.

Nose
Maria's nose is normally a "Y"-shaped nose typical of rabbits. On several occasions, however, her nose has appeared like an aardvark's nose. Other times, she has had a bear's nose or a cat's nose.

Character development
Maria and Alex were created to keep the classroom from looking too empty. Both Maria and her brother Steve were designed based on background characters from the 1986 book Arthur's Teacher Trouble. Though Maria had previously appeared in the 1979 book Arthur's Eyes and the 1985 book Arthur's Tooth, her design for the cartoon was mainly taken from her appearance in Arthur's Teacher Trouble.

In Arthur's Teacher Trouble, Maria had glasses. This was carried over to one brief scene in the episode "Arthur's Eyes". However, she did not have the glasses in Robert Waldren's original layout of the scene. Additionally, in the original layout Maria had an aardvark nose, instead of a rabbit nose. Although this was kept in the final version of the scene, it was not permanent for her design; she has a rabbit nose in almost all later appearances.

Greg Bailey has joked that Maria could have a Canadian accent or might be in the Witness Protection Program from Dexter's Laboratory.

Name
The name 'Maria' was decided prior to the show's premiere, as were many other characters. The purpose of naming background characters was for the storyboard artists to have names to use. On the "Mr. Ratburn's Class" lineup model sheet, she is labelled "#2 Maria". Maria is likely named after her designer or someone who worked at Cinar at the time.

Her name was first revealed to the audience in the season 13 episode, "MacFrensky", in which her name is visible on the student-of-the-month chart.

Besides the in-series revelation, the ARTHUR crew confirmed the name on several occasions. Replying to a direct question from a fan, the official ARTHUR Facebook page posted in 2012: "That's Maria. She's in my class at Lakewood Elementary." At the Q&A session of the 2013 New York Comic Con panel, the ARTHUR crew officially announced Alex's and Maria's names.

As a featured character
Maria is currently the only student in Mr. Ratburn's class to not have a solo speaking role. The 2013 New York Comic Con panel reported that "we may hear from [Alex and Maria] in the future". On May 9, 2014, the ARTHUR Twitter page plainly announced, "Maria will be featured in her very own episode in Season 19."

Depiction in other media


In the Living Books computer games that are based upon the books, Maria had a light yellow complexion and brown hair in Arthur's Teacher Trouble. When the player clicks on the poster behind her, the drawing comes to life and looks between Maria's ears. Clicking on Maria herself makes her say, "I thought I'd win," which is her only distinct speaking line to date. It is unknown exactly who voiced her, since the voice actors for minor characters were listed together with no distinction.

A puzzle produced by Fortune East Group depicts Maria with a white complexion and blonde hair.

Appearances
Significant appearances–times in which Maria has interacted with the main characters, has had effect on the plot, or has been the focus of attention in a scene–are in bold. {{Scroll box|

Arthur

 * 101a. Arthur's Eyes
 * 102a. Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn
 * 102b. Arthur's Spelling Trubble
 * 103b. Buster's Dino Dilemma
 * 107b. Buster Makes the Grade
 * 110a. Arthur's Birthday
 * 110b. Francine Frensky, Superstar
 * 112a. Arthur Writes a Story
 * 117b. Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper
 * 121a. Sue Ellen Moves In
 * 122b. Team Trouble
 * 123a. Bully for Binky
 * 123b. Misfortune Teller
 * 126a. My Dad, the Garbage Man
 * 127b. Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble
 * 128b. The Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club
 * 201a. Arthur Meets Mister Rogers
 * 201b. Draw!
 * 202a. Binky Barnes, Art Expert
 * 205a. Arthur's Underwear
 * 207a. Arthur's TV-Free Week
 * 208b. The Big Blow-Up
 * 215a. Grandma Thora Appreciation Day
 * 215b. Fern's Slumber Party
 * 218a. Arthur vs. the Very Mean Crossing Guard
 * 218b. D.W.'s Very Bad Mood
 * 220b. Sue Ellen's Little Sister
 * 301a. Buster's Back
 * 303b. Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurus
 * 304b. And Now Let's Talk to Some Kids
 * 305b. Revenge of the Chip
 * 306b. Meet Binky
 * 307a. Arthur Rides the Bandwagon
 * 307b. Dad's Dessert Dilemma
 * 311b. Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival
 * 313a. Arthur's Dummy Disaster
 * 315b. The Long, Dull Winter
 * 401a. D.W.'s Library Card
 * 401b. Arthur's Big Hit
 * 402b. Muffy's New Best Friend
 * 403a. Buster's Breathless
 * 409b. Buster's Best Behavior
 * 505b. You Are Arthur
 * 506a. The Election
 * 506b. Francine Goes to War
 * 508b. Bitzi's Beau
 * 602b. Buster's Sweet Success
 * 603a. Prunella's Special Edition
 * 604b. Brother, Can You Spare a Clarinet?
 * 605a. The Boy Who Cried Comet
 * 606a. Citizen Frensky
 * 607a. The Boy with His Head in the Clouds
 * 703a. Ants in Arthur's Pants
 * 705. Elwood City Turns 100!
 * 706b. Jenna's Bedtime Blues
 * 707b. Buster's Amish Mismatch
 * 708a. The World of Tomorrow
 * 710. April 9th
 * 803b. Bugged
 * 804a. Fernkenstein's Monster
 * 804a. D.W., Dancing Queen
 * 805a. Vomitrocious
 * 807a. Desk Wars
 * 810a. Big Horns George
 * 901a. Castles in the Sky
 * 901b. Tipping the Scales
 * 902a. Francine's Big Top Trouble
 * 902b. George Blows His Top
 * 909b. Buster the Myth Maker
 * 910a. Binky Goes Nuts
 * 1002a. The Squirrels
 * 1003a. Desert Island Dish
 * 1008a. Binky vs. Binky
 * 1009a. Do You Speak George?
 * 1010a. What's Cooking?
 * 1010b. Buster's Special Delivery
 * 1101b. Germophobia
 * 1104b. Brain's Shocking Secret
 * 1107b. Mr. Alwaysright
 * 1108a. Francine's Pilfered Paper
 * 1108b. Buster Gets Real
 * 1203b. Bats in the Belfry
 * 1209b. Do You Believe in Magic?
 * 1210a. The Perfect Game
 * 1301b. Prunella and the Disappointing Ending
 * 1302a. The Silent Treatment
 * 1303a. Arthur's Number Nightmare
 * 1304a. MacFrensky
 * 1305. The Great MacGrady
 * 1306a. George and the Missing Puzzle Piece
 * 1309b. The Pride of Lakewood
 * 1401a. The Wheel Deal
 * 1401b. The Buster Report
 * 1403b. The Play's the Thing
 * 1407b. Muffy and the Big Bad Blog
 * 1408a. Arthur Unravels
 * 1408b. All the Rage
 * 1410b. The Long Road Home
 * 1501. Fifteen
 * 1502a. I Wanna Hold Your Hand
 * 1503a. Buster's Secret Admirer
 * 1504a. Cents-less
 * 1504b. Buster the Lounge Lizard
 * 1505b. S.W.E.A.T.
 * 1506a. Prunella the Packrat
 * 1506b. What's in a Name?
 * 1509b. The Trouble with Trophies
 * 1601. Based on a True Story
 * 1602a. Flippity Francine
 * 1602b. Muffy Takes the Wheel
 * 1604a. Get Smart
 * 1606a. The Last Tough Customer
 * 1607b. Brain's Biggest Blunder
 * 1608a. Buster's Book Battle
 * 1610a. So Funny I Forgot to Laugh
 * 1610b. The Best Day Ever
 * 1703b. Buster Bombs
 * 1704a. Opposites Distract
 * 1705a. All Thumbs
 * 1706. Speak Up, Francine
 * 1708b. Crime and Consequences
 * 1710b. Brain Freeze

Postcards from Buster

 * 105. Among the Hmong

Specials

 * Arthur's Perfect Christmas (2000)
 * Arthur's New Friend
 * Arthur, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (2002)

Books

 * Arthur's Eyes (1979)
 * Arthur's Tooth (1985)
 * Arthur's Teacher Trouble (1986)
 * Arthur Lost and Found (1998)
 * Arthur's Off to School (2004)

Games
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 * Arthur's Teacher Trouble (1992)
 * Arthur Comics: So Funny I Forgot to Laugh! (2013)