Arthur and the true Francine Book

"Arthur and the True Francine" is another early "Arthur" book from the great mind of Marc Brown and is the first "Arthur" book not solely focused on Arthur, but on of his friends, which in this case is Francine. In this story, Francine gets into big trouble with Mr. Ratburn when she is accused of cheating on a test. "Arthur and the True Francine" is a wonderful read for children who are fans of the character Francine.

Marc Brown has done a great job at illustrating and writing this book about the importance of true friendship. Marc Brown's story about Francine and Muffy's friendship being in jeopardy because of Muffy cheating off of Francine's paper beautifully portrays the consequences of betraying a friend's trust in you and how a true friend will try to make things right again for the person they have wronged which will inspire many children to be honest with their friends and to not take their friendship for granted. Marc Brown's illustrations once again appears old fashioned compared to his newer "Arthur" books because Arthur still has a somewhat long nose (although a bit different from "Arthur's Nose" and Francine's hair have lines drawn (which is almost similar to her appearance in "Arthur's Nose.") The image that stood out the most to me was the image of Mr. Ratburn himself, as he looks very different in this book than he does in the later books of the "Arthur" series. In this book, Mr. Ratburn literally looks like a vampire, as he has two fangs under his nose, slit eyes, and has slick looking hair that is similar to a vampire's hair, which greatly reinforces the imagination that the kids have about Mr. Ratburn being an actual vampire.

"Arthur and the True Francine" is truly a fantastic book for children who want to learn about the importance of true friendship and how being honest with your friends will make you a better friend to that person. Also, for children who are huge fans of Francine, this book will surely be an instant treat for them for many years. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since I do not see anything inappropriate for smaller children to handle.

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