Arthur's Reading Race (book)

This article is about the book. You may be looking for the game.

Arthur's Reading Race is a book written by Marc Brown in 1996. It was released in 1997 as a PC CD-ROM game published by Living Books.

Summary

Arthur promises to buy ice cream for his little sister, D.W., if she can read ten words. They race to the park, where D.W. is quick to recognize signs such as ZOO, DON'T WALK, POLICE, and ICE CREAM. When she reads WET PAINT before her big brother does, Arthur is in for a colorful surprise!

Plot

Arthur learns how to read several words at school and as he grows, he starts to read everywhere: in the car, in his bed, to his puppy, Pal, and even to his little sister, D.W.. One day in the garage, Arthur tries to teach D.W. how to read, but she insists that already knows how to. Then the two have a small argument, and Arthur tells D.W. to read ten different words around town to prove it so he will buy her an ice cream cone. D.W. agrees, and the kids run to the zoo with Pal, where Arthur points to a sign and asks D.W. what it says. D.W. replies with the word Zoo, and then the two see three more words, which are Taxi, Gas, and Milk. Later, Arthur almost walks off of the street curb, causing D.W. to tell him to watch out; at this point, she has noticed another sign that says, "Don't Walk", warning people that they could get hit by cars. At the park, Arthur sees a police car and asks D.W. what it says by calling her, "Miss Smarty Pants". Then D.W. reads, "Police", and tells her brother to get off of the grass in warning of the police. After that, D.W. reads, "Bank", and shakes her purse, which is her own bank that hides all of her money in it, so other people won't find it. At this point, "Bank" makes eight words. Almost back home, Arthur and D.W. stop at the ice cream store, Pal gets tangled up with his leash onto a tree, and D.W. tells Arthur to hold his horses (because he thought D.W. had only read eight words) and spies "Ice Cream" in the shop's window, making her excited about her goal of reading ten words. Then the kids run inside the shop, where Arthur buys two big cones: strawberry for D.W. and chocolate for himself. D.W. exclaims, "Yummy!", and back outside, Arthur tells her to sit down so he can read her a book. After D.W. disagrees that she wants to read it, Arthur shakes his head and tells her that there are lots of words she doesn't know. D.W. then laughs and tells her brother to get up so she can teach him two words he doesn't know: "WET PAINT". Arthur, not having noticed that he has been sitting on a newly painted bench, gets up and looks at the back of his pants, which is now covered in white paint, making him embarrassed.