Fern Walters

No, but you're pretty good at figuring things out, when you're just being Fern. Fern Walters is a third grade student in Mr. Ratburn's class at Lakewood Elementary. She is generally viewed as a quiet girl with a love of poetry and mysteries.

Because of her shy personality, her mother, Doria Walters, often signs her up for various activities to get her involved in social gatherings with peers. Fern herself sometimes thinks that she is too quiet, once referring to herself as "invisible". Although Fern is shy, when something goes wrong she will speak her mind on behalf of what she believes to be the right thing.

Fern is well known as a talented and realistic raconteur, especially when it comes to horror and mystery stories. She loves solving mysteries, and once solved a real mystery in the episode "Fern's Slumber Party." Fern is also talented musically. She is a great singer and can perform music from several genres, such as rock (as seen in Arthur, It's Only Rock and Roll), or pop, which we see in Phony Fern. She plays the flute and is in the school band with Arthur and his friends. Her favorite authors are Agatha Christie, Mary Shelley, and Persimmony Glitchet. Fern's favorite books are the Sherlock Holmes mysteries and Frankenstein's Monster.

Physical appearance
Fern is an anthropomorphic dog with tanish gray fur. She is usually seen wearing a long sleeved purple blouse with yellow buttons, matching it with yellow pants and brown loafers. She always wears a bow on her head, usually bright red, but it sometimes is another color to go with a different outfit.

Alternate Apparel
She also wears a light purple night gown with dark purple linings and the occasional winter wear consisting of a dark pink top with a black skirt.

Personality
Fern is depicted as introverted and quiet at first, worried about mixing with her peers. As Binky says in "I'm a Poet", Fern "never says anything". However, following that episode, she starts to become involved more socially with her friends, interacting with them and helping some of them with their problems.

One of Fern's most notable talents is her flair and aptitude for writing poetry and stories, which was first highlighted in "I'm a Poet" and strengthened in "Fernlets by Fern" and "Fern & Persimmony Glitchet". In addition, Fern also has a great deal of imagination, helping her write very good stories. As evidenced, she has a quick wit for playing tricks, and on one occasion she fooled even Brain into believing a yarn concerning giant worms in "War of the Worms".

However, some of Fern's major flaws stem from her stubbornness and headstrong attitude, which can be very trying to others at times and can potentially lead to arguments, including a particularly venomous altercation with Francine.

Fern also has a small talent for acting, as seen in "No Acting, Please". She is midfielder for Lakewood Elementary Soccer Team.

Future Life
If the intro to the episode, "The Election", really happens, she will be either be President Muffy's running mate or a member of her party.

Family
Fern has a small family, consisting of her mother and father. Her mother first appears in "Fern's Slumber Party" and her father appears in the episode "Phony Fern", but is also first mentioned in the former.
 * Doria Walters - As Fern's mother, she persistently encourages Fern to join new groups in order to make friends and become more socially active. She also worries that Fern is too quiet, and generally worries about her in this regard. She refers to Fern as "Ferny" sometimes.
 * Mr. Walters - As Fern's father, he is a very kind, caring and cautious person. He loves his family very much, but sometimes he worries about Fern's safety, so he gave her a cell phone in "Phony Fern". He is also good at computers, and has even taught Fern some things about them.

Friends

 * Sue Ellen Armstrong - Fern and Sue Ellen are often seen together in the backgrounds of some scenes. They become better friends when they both make a pact in the episode "Popular Girls", and they are seen running around (in the background) in the episode "Mr. Alwaysright." They also give each other advice, as seen in "Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurus".
 * Muffy Crosswire - Fern and Muffy become good friends when they both have the same cell phone, the Portilex-360. However, things might have changed when Fern downgrades to a simpler phone. They still seem to be portrayed as close friends in the later seasons, as they are seen watching a movie and auditioning for the same part in a play. Otherwise, in the earlier seasons, they seem to not interact, if at all.
 * Francine Frensky - They are not friends because Francine sees Fern as a boring person, based on her thoughts on Fern in the episodes I'm a Poet, Draw!, and Fern's Slumber Party. Despite this, they seem to confide in each other and appreciate the same type of stories. Fern was partnered up Francine in "Fernfern and the Secret of Moose Mountain". Despite their differences they were able work together to get to the top of the mountain.
 * George Lundgren - Fern and George are seen role-playing in the "Phony Fern" and also seen with George at the episode "The Return of the King". In the earlier seasons, when they were used as background characters, they were often seen together with Jenna.

Fern is considered to be friends with all of the main kids in Lakewood Elementary, as she is seen with them on many occasions.

Trivia

 * There is some confusion over when Fern's birthday is. In Arthur, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, it is revealed that Fern is a Libra, meaning that her birthday is between September 23 - October 22, but in "Dad's Dessert Dilemma," it is implied that her birthday is shortly after February 15th, Galileo's birthday.
 * Fern spoke for the first time in the episode 'Arthur and the True Francine', when she asks Muffy, at one of her sleepovers, if she has ever lied before.
 * In the episode 'I'm a Poet', she can be seen getting angry at Francine for mocking her. Later she yells 'QUIET!!' when everyone said they can write poetry. After she yells you can hear a car alarm go off.
 * She doesn't have a visible hairstyle like the rest of the girls.