Chances are, if you grew up with Arthur, you can still hear that theme song.
For generations of kids, Arthur Read and the residents of Elwood City were simply part of growing up. There were books waiting at the library, afternoons spent watching the PBS Kids series and plenty of everyday problems that somehow felt a little easier to understand once Arthur and his friends had worked through them first.
Now, nearly 50 years after Marc Brown first introduced the beloved aardvark, a childhood staple is getting ready to meet another generation of readers in a new way.
“Arthur” is officially heading into graphic novels.
National Book Award finalist and bestselling creator Jarrett J. Krosoczka is working alongside Brown to adapt Arthur’s world into full-color graphic novels as the character prepares to celebrate his 50th anniversary in 2027. Little, Brown Ink will launch the new collection with two titles, “Arthur Makes a Comic” and “Arthur’s Underwear,” both arriving May 4, 2027.
And perhaps appropriately for a character who has spent decades encouraging kids to read, the first new story is all about creating one of your own.
“Arthur Makes a Comic” finds Arthur and his classmates receiving an assignment to write a story about something important to them. Arthur already knows exactly what he wants to do: create a comic about how he got his puppy, Pal. There is just one problem. Everyone who reads his work seems to have an idea about how he should change it.
Arthur listens. Then changes something. Then listens some more and changes something else. Eventually, the comic everyone helped make “better” barely feels like his story anymore, leaving Arthur to learn how to tune out all that outside noise and trust his own creative instincts.
It is a surprisingly timeless lesson for a character turning 50.
The second release brings a familiar Arthur story into the graphic novel format with “Arthur’s Underwear.” After watching Binky’s pants split in front of their classmates, Arthur develops a new fear: what if the same thing happens to him? Soon he is having nightmares about arriving at school in nothing but his underwear, turning childhood anxiety and embarrassment into the kind of relatable comedy “Arthur” has always handled particularly well.
Both books continue something the franchise has been doing since the beginning: taking relatively ordinary childhood worries seriously without making them feel enormous. Whether it is being embarrassed at school, struggling with confidence or figuring out when to listen to your friends and when to trust yourself, Arthur’s problems have rarely needed to be fantastical to matter.
That approach has carried the character through an impressive amount of childhood history.
Marc Brown first introduced Arthur in the 1976 picture book “Arthur’s Nose,” beginning a book series that would eventually grow to dozens of titles and tens of millions of copies. Twenty years later, “Arthur” made the jump to television, with the PBS Kids animated series running for 25 seasons from 1996 through 2022.
Now the graphic novel format gives Arthur another opportunity to evolve with the way kids are reading today without losing what made those original stories work.
Krosoczka is certainly no stranger to the format either. His work includes the popular “Lunch Lady” graphic novels, the National Book Award finalist memoir “Hey, Kiddo,” “Sunshine” and entries in the “Star Wars: Jedi Academy” series. Bringing that experience together with Brown’s characters creates an interesting bridge between the Arthur generations many parents remember and the graphic novels filling children’s bookshelves today.
And that may be the most fitting part of this particular anniversary.
Fifty years after “Arthur’s Nose” first landed on shelves, some of the children who grew up reading Arthur’s adventures—or rushing home to watch them on PBS Kids—now have young readers of their own. Arthur doesn’t necessarily need to remain frozen in the format where one generation first discovered him. He can grow, change and find another way onto those bookshelves.
After all, having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.
Apparently, neither is sticking around for 50 years.
Jocelin Cap: Mother of three. That does not include the dog or my husband either! We have a full household of fun and we just love trying new products of all varieties. May not watch as many kids shows as the rest of the family though.
