Editing Arthur's Fire Drill

| publisher = Random Housee

When [[D.W. Read|D.W.]] was a baby, [[Arthur Read|Arthur]] taught her not to touch the hot stove and when she was two, Arthur taught her to never play with matches. She's now learning many things from [[Ms. Morgan]] in [[Elwood Community Preschool|nursery school]] and one day, Ms. Morgan tells the class that they're going to have a fire drill. She tells them that when the fire bell rings, they should line up at the door, and has them practice the procedure of "stop, drop and roll" outside. When D.W. asks what it's for, [[Tommy Tibble|Tommy]] tells her that it's for if your clothes catch on fire.

When D.W. gets home, she tells Arthur she's not going to school the next day because there's going to be a fire. Arthur thinks she's making things up until he realizes she's talking about a fire DRILL. She tells him that she doesn't care what he says; she's not going to school. Arthur goes to his closet and gets out his play firefighter's hat and a whistle. He dresses her up, telling her that they're going to have a fire drill at home and she can be the boss.

He presents some fire safety tips, such as putting a wet towel over your head if you have to crawl through smoke, and to get out of your house quickly, then go to a neighbor's and call 911. D.W. goes into action, heading downstairs and telling [[Mr. Read]], [[Mrs. Read]] and [[Kate Read|Baby Kate]] that there's a fire drill. Arthur tells them to just go along with it because D.W. is the fire boss. Everyone, including [[Pal]], runs out. When Mr. Read asks what it's all about, Arthur tells him that it's D.W.'s homework. They practice two more times before Mr. Read says that it's enough and D.W. has Arthur practice crawling through smoke with a wet towel over his head.

The next day, D.W. feels ready, but when she gets to school, she sees a fire truck there and worries the school is on fire. Then, she sees a [[Firefighter (Arthur's Fire Drill)|firefighter]] in a mask step off the truck and mistakes him for a monster. The firefighter takes off his mask, revealing a doggy-man who tells her that he's just a friendly firefighter who's come to talk with her class about how he fights fires. D.W., still in her outfit, tells him that she can help her because she's a fire boss. When D.W. gets home, she tells Arthur that the fire drill was "no big deal."

 

*Instead of D.W.'s initials, the fire hat worn by her is a play fire hat that belongs to Arthur and has a golden 1 on it.

 

Young D.W. Playing with Matches.jpg|Arthur warns young D.W. to not play with matches

[[Category:Arthur Books]]

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