Buster's Book Battle

"Buster's Book Battle"
Season/Series:	16
Number in season:	8a
Original Airdate:	May 8th, 2013 April 19, 2013
Credits
Written by:	Jon Greenberg
Storyboard by:	Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous "Brain's Biggest Blunder"	Next "On the Buster Scale"

"Buster's Book Battle" is the first half of the eighth episode in the sixteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

Lakewood Elementary has just instituted IRP; a program where kids can earn points (and prizes!) for reading. Buster's thrilled and gets to work straight away! But will he earn enough points for a skateboard?

Plot

At the school carnival, Arthur, Francine, and Binky all try to knock down the bottles with balls, but they all fail. Buster then shows up, and asks what they're doing, and he knocks the bottles over and wins a giant panda plush just by crunching a pretzel. Buster comments that "you can win prizes for doing anything these days".

Buster's Book Battle

After the title card, a less-than-thrilled Mr. Ratburn tells the class that Lakewood Elementary is instituting the Independent Readers Project (IRP), a system that allows you to optionally take computerized quizzes on books that you read. You can earn points, and at the end of two weeks, these points can be redeemed for prizes. Buster is especially intrigued at the prospect of prizes, and gets to work right away.

Simply reading bedtime stories, Buster earns 23 points. However, Francine earns 35, for reading the series entitled Loki Benediktssen and the Teenage Aesir. Buster seeks more points, so he decides to start reading the series. Unfortunately, he finds it boring, and after getting fewer points than Francine did for incorrect answers, he gives up on IRP altogether. Buster's mom Bitzi gives him a manuscript of a book her co-worker from the newspaper made. The story is entitled City of Droids, about a crime-fighting cyborg detective named Kilgore. Buster is entranced by the story and reads it non-stop. When Buster asks Mr. Ratburn how many points he can get for reading it, he is shocked to learn that IRP has no quiz for City of Droids, or several other books for that matter. Wanting the skateboard for 500 points, Buster takes Francine's advice and reads Loki again. Kilgore and Loki themselves appear in Buster's room as a metaphorical dream sequence, trying to convince Buster to read their books. It results in a physical altercation, with Kilgore getting the better of Loki and forcing him to retreat.

In the end, receiving at least 30 points, Buster chooses City of Droids and cashes in his points on a crazy straw. Francine gets 500 points, but the skateboard is actually much smaller than advertised, irritating her. She then denounces the Loki series. Buster also gives Arthur City of Droids to read.

Characters

Major

• Buster Baxter
• Loki Benediktssen
• Detective Kilgore

Minor

• Arthur Read
• Francine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire
• Nigel Ratburn
• Bitzi Baxter
• Fenrir

Cameo

• Big Kid 1
• Big Kid 2
• Otis
• 3rd Grade Male Rabbit
• Unknown Female Cat (Number 4)
• Steve
• Nancy
• Rattles
• Slink
• Molly MacDonald
• George Lundgren
• Prunella Deegan
• Fern Walters
• Binky Barnes
• Jenna Morgan
• The Brain
• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• Maria Pappas

Trivia

• There's no way Buster would have been able to take a quiz for ​City of Droids because the book was never even published.
• A Woogle can be seen in the IRP prizes flyer.

Cultural references

• Loki Benediktssen and the Teenage Aesir is a parody of Percy Jackson & the Olympians.
• The Fenrir Wolf is a real creature from Norse mythology.
• Some books IRP doesn't conduct quizzes for include Treasure Island and Watership Down.
• One of the books Buster reads at the start of the IRP program is Goodnight Universe, a parody of Goodnight Moon.
• IRP is kind of like "AR" which stands for Accelerated Reader , which you can also take tests on.
• City of Droids may be similar to Caves of Steel, the first book in Isaac Asimov's robot trilogy.
• One of Kilgore's arm attachments resembles a lightsaber from Star Wars.

Gallery

:Main article: Buster's Book Battle/Gallery

References