Arthur's Computer Disaster

This article is about the book. You may be looking for the episode, the VHS, the DVD, or the computer game.

Arthur's Computer Disaster
Author	Marc Brown
Illustrator	Marc Brown
Publication date	September 1, 1997
Published by	Little, Brown and Company
ISBN	0316105341
Publication order
Preceded by Arthur Writes a Story (1996)	Followed by Arthur Lost and Found (1998)

Arthur's Computer Disaster is the 23rd book in the Arthur Adventure series. It was written and illustrated by Marc Brown, and published by Little, Brown and Company. It is based on "Arthur the Wrecker", and it is also the second Arthur Adventure book based on an episode, but the first to be published after its episode counterpart's original airdate.

In the story, Arthur Read plays a game on his mom's computer, but accidentally breaks it. In the end, he finds that it is not, in fact, broken, but he gets into trouble for disobeying his mom's orders to stay off the computer.

Characters

• D.W. Read
• Dad
• Arthur Read
• Mom
• Kate Read
• Pal
• Buster Baxter
• The Brain's mom
• The Brain
• A computer expert

Trivia

• There's also a version of the book called Arthur's Computer Adventure that's a computer game.

Differences from the TV episode

• When Arthur started playing Deep Dark Sea, he was wearing his pajamas. In the episode, he was playing on the computer before changing into his pajamas.
• When Mom tells Arthur and Buster that it's tax season that she needs to use the computer all day, she was in the kitchen and on the phone. In the episode, she was on the computer when she told them.
  • Also, in the book, after she tells the boys she needs to run to the office, she adds "And don't touch my computer" (which she didn't exactly say in the cartoon but meant to remind them).
• Mrs. Powers told the boys that the Brain was not home instead of Mr. Powers.
• After the Brain couldn't find the problem with the computer, Arthur, D.W. and Buster then go to the computer repair shop. In the episode, they didn't go to the computer repair shop because Jane came home right away, thus making Buster and the Brain leave.
• After the computer supposedly breaks, D.W. tells Arthur and his friend Buster that they're both in big trouble. In the episode, she rambles on to them about how their mom could get fired and that their family could become homeless and suffer poor health conditions. In the book, she says it before Mom comes home.
• After the computer incident, Arthur's mom calls to check and see how he's doing, and he lies to her about not touching the computer. In the episode, she doesn't call, but later mentions he could have called her and asked her for help.
• The main character in the game Deep Dark Sea is a bear wearing goggles, a snorkel, air tanks on its back, a swimsuit, and flippers. In the episode, the character in the game was wearing a metallic diving suit.
• Before Mom uses the computer once again (but decides to play Deep Dark Sea instead of working on her taxes), she grounds Arthur by telling him "No computer games for a week." In the episode, she said, "I'm forbidding you from the computer for a week" before asking Arthur if that was fair (to which Arthur sadly nodded).