''Arthur's Nose'' is a 1976 children's book written and illustrated by writer Marc Brown, the first book in the ''Arthur'' Adventure series. It focuses on the experiences of

Arthur Read Arthur Timothy Read is a fictional anthropomorphic aardvark created by the author Marc Brown. The main character of the book and television series ''Arthur'', he is in the third grade and lives in the fictional city of Elwood City. Physical ...

, a fictional anthropomorphic bipedal

aardvark Aardvarks ( ; ''Orycteropus afer'') are medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammals native to Africa. Aardvarks are the only living species of the family Orycteropodidae and the order Tubulidentata. They have a long proboscis, similar to a pi ...

. The character of Arthur later acquired fame and inspired several other picture books and the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

adaptation.

Plot

Arthur is a young anthropomorphic aardvark residing in a world populated by anthropomorphic animals. His classmate, Francine, who sits nearby him, frequently complains about Arthur's lengthy nose. A few other remarks regarding the length of his nose inspire Arthur to have it

fixed Fixed may refer to: * ''Fixed'' (EP), EP by Nine Inch Nails * ''Fixed'' (film), an upcoming animated film directed by Genndy Tartakovsky * Fixed (typeface), a collection of monospace bitmap fonts that is distributed with the X Window System * Fi ...

. He then visits a

specialist A specialist is someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research. Specialist may also refer to: Occupations * Specialist (rank), military rank ** Specialist (Singapore) * Specialist officer, military rank in ...

, but decides against the idea of changing his nose even after viewing the man's other options. Arthur returns to school and is seldom taunted because of his nose, although Francine still complains mildly about it getting in her way.

Later books

After the book's publication, it inspired a series of storybooks chronicling Arthur's childhood experiences. The books showed the progression of years Arthur's character design gradually changed. In earlier books, he—and his family—were aardvarks (real ones, with long snouts, aardvark paws and claws, and tails). But in later books their noses (aardvark snouts) gradually receded until they were reduced to nothing more to a pair of tiny nostrils, their tails also disappeared. In the television series neither were ever present. Arthur later acquired a pair of eyeglasses, although he got the glasses from the next book ''Arthur's Eyes'' because he couldn't see. Marc Brown's depictions of the other characters also slowly changed and shifted, as did his drawing style. The series would later go on to inspire a popular PBS educational animated television series. The book was reissued in 2001 to mark its 25th anniversary, with additional drawings showing how Brown developed the character.

References

{{Arthur 1976 children's books American picture books