I'd Rather Read It Myself

Summary
Tired of the Tibble twins always being ahead of her, D.W. tries to convince them that she's already learned how to read.

Plot
The episode starts with Arthur telling the audience about how Timmy and Tommy Tibble drive D.W. crazy. He explains about how they want to prove they're better at everything. The Tibbles said to DW that they can scream louder than DW. D.W. said she don't care. But they screamed louder. Plus, they could ride two-wheeler bicycles before D.W. could, and they claimed they could even tell time (though in reality, they were just making it up.) If only D.W. could be the first to do something before the Tibbles...

The Tibble Twins build a Burmese tiger trap, or as they call it, a "Burma-ese tiger trap", using a peanut butter cup as bait. It manages to successfully capture Mr. Haney, although the twins are disappointed that he "broke" their trap, and Grandma Tibble isn't that pleased that the Tibbles dug such a deep pit in her yard. Now she'll have to go and buy sod, while the Tibble Twins stay at the Read family's house for the afternoon. D.W. plans to keep them distracted with playing soccer, but just as she says it, a thunderstorm begins, rendering playing outside out of the question. D.W. will have to find some way of entertaining them inside. She suggest they color, but the Tibbles just scribble really fast into her favorite coloring book, which upsets her. Arthur's up in his room, doing 207,000 math problems for homework, and D.W. goes to him for advice, since he's had experience dealing with them as a babysitter. Arthur says the last time he babysat them, he found something that worked, by telling them a story. That could work for D.W., except that she can't read stories, since she can't read anything. But then, neither can the Tibbles. D.W. returns to the den, where the Tibbles are milling about. She announces to the Tibbles that she will read ot them, but the Tibbles say that that's impossible. Anything D.W. can do, they can do. They can't read, and neither can she. The Tibbles find something for her to read, to prove (or better yet, disprove) her claim. They point to the nameplate on the television in the den. The manufacturer of this television is "Elbozonic" according to the nameplate. D.W. claims that it just says "television," but the Tibbles can't prove she's right, since they can't read either. However, they're still not completely convinced. They find a book in the den for her to read to them; "Little Red Riding Hood," with lots of illustrations, so they'll know if she's reading it right. D.W. sounds uncomfortable with that, and picks a book that has all words in it. The Tibbles are unsure, but D.W. tells them not to worry. They sit down, and D.W. starts reading. She flips to a random place in the book, and starts to "read".

This is the story of... B.W.! (The Tibbles are suspicious at first, as it's close to "D.W.," but remain quiet so D.W. can "read" the rest.)

B.W. was a "smart, great, perfect girl", whom was a princess, a genius, and a cool person, but too polite to brag, and she had her own pony as well, and it would sleep in her room with her, and her parents were cool with that. Just one thing keeps B.W.'s life from being perfect... Her big brother (Arthur), whom is also a "mega transformalizer". He can turn into a robot form, an airplane, a helicopter, even a lima bean can! He also has an evil partner: Bust-Trantor, a large robot (Buster) whom is always hungry and loves eating. Their most recent crime: stealing the world's most valuable snowball! (This references the time D.W.'s snowball in the freezer went missing.) B.W. is also an agent with a transporting car, and enlists in the aid of her deer friend Walter, whom zaps her to her brother's hideout. Once there, she manages to escape them by doing flips on a balance beam (referencing when she wanted to do a cartwheel on a balance beam after seeing an Olympic athlete do it), and then she begins to escape on her two-wheeler bicycle, and surprises the two robots that she can also ride a "no-wheeler," by jettisoning the wheels from her bike and flying off on it, successfully making it over the octopus-infested lake (referencing D.W.'s octopus fear.)

That night. B.W. goes to a fancy restaurant with her parents, avoiding eating the spinach (referencing D.W.'s past dislike of spinach) as it turns everyone, even her parents, into "spinach heads!" To cure them, she must use the Power Ring of Power, which is being used at her Aunt Lucy's wedding, where she manages to retrieve it from a pipe organ (just as D.W. did with the wedding ring at Aunt Lucy's real wedding). But without her magic blankie, the ring is powerless, so she enlists on the help of Secret Agent Nadine, whom is so secret, she can turn invisible. They trace it into the super-confusing All-In-One Mart, which is built like a maze (referencing when D.W. and Nadine got lost in the real All-In-One Mart), and are initially lost, but B.W. finds what appears to be her lost snowball, which can show the way out. They locate the blankie in what looks like Crazy Bus, with Pickles the Clown in the drivers' seat. B.W. is sure things are all worked out, but the "Crazy Bus" turns out to be her transforming robot brother, and Pickles is Bust-Trantor in disguise! They have successfully tricked B.W., but her faithful eagle Spanky comes to the rescue, ending up with imprisoning the bad guys in a big cage, but then Spanky dies after doing so (referencing D.W.'s parakeet Spanky dying), and she and her good friend the President of the United States hold a big funeral for the eagle.

Back in reality, just after D.W. reads that, the doorbell rings, and Grandma Tibble is back to pick up the twins. When D.W. leaves the room, the twins tell Arthur how D.W. read to them from one of his books, and asks if they can borrow it. Arthur says sure, and they do so, telling D.W. that Arthur gave them permission. Once they leave, Arthur tells D.W. they will find out the truth, but D.W. doesn't mind, saying for one day, she could do something they couldn't do. At the Tibble's house that night, Grandma Tibble begins to read to the twins where D.W. left off, but the book is actually about Leonardo Da Vinci! The Tibble twins figure that the book is magic, and that every time you read it, it tells a different story!

Characters

 * Arthur Read
 * D.W. Read
 * Timmy Tibble
 * Tommy Tibble
 * Mrs. Tibble
 * Herbert Haney
 * Jane Read
 * Buster Baxter (appeared in fantasy)
 * Walter (appeared in fantasy)
 * Nadine (appeared in fantasy)
 * Pickles (appeared in fantasy, as a disguise)
 * Lucy's husband (appeared in fantasy)
 * Jessica (appeared in fantasy)
 * Spanky (appeared in fantasy)
 * The President (appeared in fantasy)

Trivia

 * The snowball incident is a central plot element in D.W.'s story, in which Arthur really did steal it.
 * Arthur says he has 207,000 math problems for homework from Mr. Ratburn; this is an insane amount of work even for Mr. Ratburn to pass out. This definitely could be an exaggeration.

Cultural references

 * Arthur's ability to transform into whatever he pleases in D.W.'s story may be a parody of Transformers.
 * The book is about Leonardo da Vinci.
 * "Bust-Rantor" is a based off of ', the 1960s American adaptation of the Japanese anime ', with similar suit and theme music.

Episode connections

 * In "D.W. Thinks Big", Arthur says that the ring bearer is always a boy. But in D.W's fantasy, Cora is the ring bearer.
 * This episode combines events from episodes from seasons 1 and 2, such as D.W. All Wet, D.W. Thinks Big, D.W.'s Snow Mystery, So Long, Spanky, D.W., the Picky Eater, D.W. Goes To Washington, and D.W. Gets Lost.
 * Numerous incidents from the first two seasons are prominently featured in this episode:
 * Aunt Lucy's wedding.
 * D.W.'s hatred for spinach.
 * D.W.'s missing blanket.
 * The death of D.W.'s bird Spanky.
 * Getting lost in the mall.
 * D.W.'s friend Walter the deer.
 * D.W.'s fear of octopi at Bear Lake.
 * D.W. and the balance beam.
 * D.W. learning to ride a two-wheel bicycle.
 * D.W. meeting the President.

Errors

 * In the wedding scene that is based upon D.W. Thinks Big, the bride who may or may not resemble Lucy is not shown at the wedding and only the look-alike of Lucy's husband was shown there; and the Cora-like girl was being the ring-bearer instead of any male, although being a ring-bearer is a job for males.
 * In the scene where the Crazy Bus is actually the evil Arthur-like mega-transforbalizer, the Blankie is shown to be blue; although it is pink in all of its other appearances.
 * D.W. states in the story she made up that the lake had 7,000 octopuses in it, but it was a giant sea creature with eleven tentacle legs, which is three more legs than an actual octopus has. However, it might be likely that she cannot precisely determine multiple quantity due to her young age.
 * When D.W. says that she can read before the Tibbles, there is no table. But when she says that she's read books since last Thursday, a table full of books appears beside her.

Production notes

 * This is the first episode to use Octopus Arms as a title card.

Home Video
DVD:
 * Arthur Writes a Story

Gallery
{{CollapsingGallery|

Screenshots
}}