Arthur's First Sleepover (book)

Arthur's First Sleepover is the twentieth book in the Arthur Adventure series. It was written and illustrated by Marc Brown and published by Little, Brown and Company on October 3, 1994. It became adapted into the first half of Episode 30 of Season 1 with the same title.

Plot
One Thursday morning, Arthur Read was getting ready for his first sleepover by setting up the tent. His mother Jane calls him in for breakfast and tells him it is not until Saturday. As Arthur walks into the dining room, he hears his father David laughing while reading the newspaper and says that some man in town said he saw a spaceship. Jane jokes that it must be the same man who saw Elvis at the mall. Arthur doesn't believe in aliens, but his sister D.W. states that the National Requirer newspaper article does.

While Arthur walks to school with his friends: Buster Baxter, the Brain, Francine Frensky, Muffy Crosswire, and Prunella Deegan, the girls were talking about the spaceship. Arthur wanted to talk about the sleepover he was planning for Saturday. He tells the boys that they can have a sleepover in his tent. Muffy says that no one could catch her out in a tent with spaceships. Buster tells Arthur that his mother Bitzi thinks he's too young for a sleepover and cannot come. Arthur persuades to Buster that he must come to his house for the sleepover, and that they are best friends. Francine wonders why they would be called sleepovers and states that no one ever sleeps during sleepovers.

After school, Arthur tells his mother about Buster's problem. Jane then calls Bitzi on the phone, and during the conversation, Bitzi did all the talking. Jane then responds with a "Yes. No. Of course not. Absolutely. Good talking to you, too. Bye," and then hangs up. Jane then nods her head yes that Buster may come over for Arthur's sleepover. Arthur then jumps for joy and cheers that Buster will come over for the sleepover. D.W. asks if Bitzi knows about the spaceship, and then states she saw the flashing lights. Jane then tells D.W. it was the Pizza Shop sign.

Two days later in the morning, Arthur's family then helps him out to set up his sleepover. D.W. asks her parents if she and Arthur know they're their real parents and not aliens other people's bodies. The parents respond to D.W. by asking her if she brushed her teeth and cleaned up her room. Arthur says that the aliens sound real to him.

When Buster and the Brain arrived to Arthur's house, Arthur was looking for a flashlight in one of the kitchen drawers. D.W. wonders if the boys might see any aliens. The Brain responds about whether or not they will communicate with them once they see them. D.W. tells the boys that communicating with the aliens is not important, but that they should take pictures for the National Requirer with her camera. Arthur suggests that they should make some signs, and Buster agrees, but should call his mother about it.

The boys then put up signs that say "ALIENS WELCOME", "WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS", and "PLEASE DO MY HOMEWORK". After they finished the signs, they started unpacking. The Brain brought some snacks, Arthur brought a rubber snake in order to keep D.W. away from them, and Buster brought his baseball cards and his red blanket. Buster then asks if they might see aliens during the night, but Arthur and the Brain prove to him that space aliens don't really exist.

Later at night, the boys then change into their pajamas. They forgot all about the aliens and were too busy telling jokes and trading baseball cards. Buster then suggests to have a pillow fight, but the Brain rejects the offer and wonders what they hear outside. Buster says there are footsteps. Arthur fears what the sound might be. It was the pizza delivery man walking up to the tent. Arthur says he almost stopped breathing and Buster says he almost wet his pants.

After the boys ate pizza, Arthur's father then comes to the tent and tells them it's after 9:00 P.M., and that it's time for bed. The Brain thanks Arthur's father for the pizza. Arthur's father then tells the boys good night and then they respond. After David walks back into the house, the boys then started shooting out of their sleeping bags in a flash instead of sleeping. The Brain says he heard bedtime, but not sleeptime. Arthur suggests they could tell spooky stories, but Buster suggests to play a game of cards.

In the middle of playing a card game, the boys then saw flashing lights coming from right outside the tent, causing them to drop their cards. Buster then cries out that there might be aliens trying to abduct them. Arthur doesn't hear any footsteps, and the Brain agrees with Arthur, and says that the aliens haven't landed yet. The boys then shout out that the aliens are after their tent and should run for their lives.

Right away, the boys start running as the tent collapses and Busters screams to be let out. The boys keep on running in their collapsed tent until they crash into a maple tree. Buster then decides he wants to call his mother right away. The Brain then tells Arthur that the lights are coming from his house. Arthur responds that the alien must be from planet D.W. The boys then decide to put their tent back up and teach D.W. a very hard lesson.

Arthur then walks quietly into the house, and up the stairs and into his sisters' bedroom. He hears D.W. laughing. Arthur asks what is so funny, and D.W. thinks Arthur came into the house, because he's scared. Arthur says he wasn't scared, and was just returning the camera to D.W. He then teases her by telling her that she will see an alien before he and the other boys do. D.W. doubts it. Arthur then heads back to the tent.

The next minute, there came a tap on the window in D.W. and Baby Kate's room. It was a green alien-like monster on a thick wooden stick. D.W. then stares at the fake alien and screams out loud that there is an alien at her window, in which her screams were loud enough to wake up the entire neighborhood. Jane and David then walk outside to check on the boys, and find them sleeping like little angels. After Arthur's parents walk back into the house, the boys then start playing around in the tent once again.

Trivia

 * Buster's mother Bitzi Baxter is introduced in this book. Her hair color was blonde, but in the TV show and later books, her hair color was changed to auburn. However, in Arthur's 2nd Grade and its related games, she appears with blonde hair.
 * This is the book that has the most Tolons, Tuckers, and Elizas.

Cultural References

 * National Requirer is a play on National National Enquirer.

Goofs

 * While Jane was wearing a white shirt with light teal polka-dots and a plaid pink skirt, her shirt was tucked into the skirt before Arthur leaves for school; but after Arthur comes home from school, her shirt is hanging out.
 * It's unusual why Buster would refer to his blanket as a "blankie", since he's eight years old and that the word is appropriately used by 2-4 year olds