Arthur, For the Very First Time: A Coming-of-Age Novel for Kids (Ages 8-12) About Discovery and Love on a Summer Farm

Arthur is upset because his mother is going to have a baby and he doesn't want to share her with anyone. His parents send him to stay with relatives for the summer hoping he can get a break from the city and Uncle Wrisby and Aunt Elda live in a beautiful home surrounded by trees, a stream and a few farm animals. And best of all they have a chicken who loves to do tricks and responds to commands given in French. Arthur has a summer full of adventure that all kids will love hearing about, including the birthing of baby piglets. This book is also wonderful as a class read-a-loud.

I have seen better books that Patricia MacLachlan has written, but this book was okay. It's about a boy who was sent to his geat aunt and uncle. They are very strange. They sit on very tall trees, speak french to their chicken and sing to their pig who is pregnant. It was an okay book

I have used this book in my fourth grade classroom and so have read it many times. It is filled with warm, interesting characters and the story line is very appropriate and engaging. It's a great read for adults as well as children, a good opportunity for parents to share quality literature with their children.

Very original characters that we liked a lot. They were funny, nice, loving and insightful. We were a little disappointed with the ending. It came too soon!

I really liked this book it was part of a book club i also liked Sarah plain and tall it was very touching

Good book.

this is one of these books that you just have to read over the summer. there's something about the writing style that is both classic and highly orginal, and the story itself is very enjoyable.it's one of those young adult books about a rural childhood that is so unassumingly well written that its characters and story are beyond believable. details like the uncle who plants a garden with nothing but rows of onions and roses lend a kind of surreal pleasure to the book, and still leave you sniffing the air for a ghost of summer earth and sky, even if you're reading this book indoors.the character of Arthur is so recognizable and disarmingly bright and observant that i think young readers will instantly identify with him. there's something of an unbreakable wonder in the way that Arthur sees the world, but he's bright enough to still be somewhat guarded. all the characters are wonderfully written, really.this is a great, well written young adult's book, and should not be missed.