The Rat Who Came to Dinner

Summary
When Mr. Ratburn's roof collapses, Arthur's parents invite him to stay at their house, and Arthur is afraid that means his teacher will be grading him every minute.

Plot
Mr. Ratburn's roof collapsed, so he's staying at Arthur's house much to his shock. He feels scared, so he tries to distract him reluctantly. But then, Mr. Ratburn asks Arthur to put on Spooky-Poo, which Jane hadn't seen since she was 10. Later, he did a magic trick, to Arthur and D.W.'s shock. He teaches it to his family to their surprise. Later, they watched more Spooky-Poo. During dinner, David made Mr. Ratburn chocolate cake. At bedtime, Arthur decided Mr. Ratburn wasn't bad after all. The next day, Arthur's friends find out that Mr. Ratburn's stay last night was good, so they treat Arthur differently. When Arthur got home, he told his parents about it. The next day at lunch, Mr. Ratburn gave Arthur news that he's staying at each of his friends' house, ending the episode.

Major Characters

 * Arthur Read
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * D.W. Read
 * Jane Read
 * David Read
 * Kate Read

Minor Characters

 * Pal
 * Buster Baxter
 * Fern Walters
 * Alan Powers
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Binky Barnes

Trivia

 * Arthur's phone only has 9 buttons.
 * A running gag throughout this episode is that D.W. is constantly butchering Mr. Ratburn's name (saying Mr. Ratburn's name incorrectly), and Mr. Ratburn ignores her.

Cultural references

 * Spooky Poo is a parody of the show Scooby Doo, Where Are You!, since Jane mentioned that she hadn't seen Spooky Poo since she was ten years old.

Episode connections

 * "The Blizzard" was also a "Snowy" story. It is implied that this episode takes place immediately afterward.
 * The episode 's title is a play on the famous play The Man Who Came to Dinner.

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