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Arthur Adventure Series
Arthur's Pet Business
Arthur's determination to prove he is responsible enough to have a puppy brings him a menagerie of animals to care for.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1990
About the author
Marc Brown
576 books391 followersMarc Tolon Brown is perhaps best known for his series of children's books about Arthur the aardvark, which was turned into an animated television show on PBS. Brown is a three-time Emmy Award winner, for his role on the television show inspired by his books.
He lives on Martha's Vineyard and in New York City with his wife, Laurie Krasny Brown. He has three children, sons Tolon and Tucker, and daughter Eliza. The names of his two sons have been hidden in all of the Arthur books except for one: Arthur's Tooth.
He lives on Martha's Vineyard and in New York City with his wife, Laurie Krasny Brown. He has three children, sons Tolon and Tucker, and daughter Eliza. The names of his two sons have been hidden in all of the Arthur books except for one: Arthur's Tooth.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
March 29, 2023
Love me some Arthur books. This is one of the best and my kiddos love it. I feel as if the books I read in class shouldn’t count towards my “books I’ve read” list but listen children’s books are important too🤓
February 28, 2021
Arthur wants a puppy, and his parents agree to him having one, but only if he can prove to them that he's responsible. To prove that he can be responsible Arthur starts a pet sitting business. His first and most challenging client is Mrs. Woods dog, Perky. Arthur not only proves how responsible he can be, but receives a special gift.
November 6, 2020
It was the best book ever and it was great.
January 14, 2023
Captivating and enthralling
April 7, 2010
“Arthur’s Pet Business” is one of the “Pal the Puppy” trilogies in the “Arthur” series written by Marc Brown. This time, Arthur has his hands full as he tries to start a pet business to prove to his parents that he is responsible enough to own a puppy. “Arthur’s Pet Business” is truly a great book for children to learn about the importance of responsibility.
Marc Brown has done it again in detailing Arthur’s latest dilemma by using the topic of responsibility. Marc Brown gives the readers a chance to learn about the importance when Arthur learns to be responsible as he tries to take care of other people’s pets. This situation proves to be a good insight for children who want to learn about what it takes to take care of pets and how it is important to be responsible with your pets so that your pets can live to be healthy and safe in the long run. Marc Brown’s illustrations are creative as he makes Arthur look like a humanoid version of an aardvark who wears a yellow sweater and blue jeans. I also love the way that Marc Brown illustrates Perky the dog as a mean-looking and prudish dog with sharp fangs and wild looking hair, which indicates that she is truly a monster not to be dealt with.
“Arthur’s Pet Business” is the perfect story about the responsibility of taking care of a pet and how hard work has its own rewards. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since I do not see anything inappropriate about this book.
From my Epinions Review:
http://www99.epinions.com/review/Arth...
Marc Brown has done it again in detailing Arthur’s latest dilemma by using the topic of responsibility. Marc Brown gives the readers a chance to learn about the importance when Arthur learns to be responsible as he tries to take care of other people’s pets. This situation proves to be a good insight for children who want to learn about what it takes to take care of pets and how it is important to be responsible with your pets so that your pets can live to be healthy and safe in the long run. Marc Brown’s illustrations are creative as he makes Arthur look like a humanoid version of an aardvark who wears a yellow sweater and blue jeans. I also love the way that Marc Brown illustrates Perky the dog as a mean-looking and prudish dog with sharp fangs and wild looking hair, which indicates that she is truly a monster not to be dealt with.
“Arthur’s Pet Business” is the perfect story about the responsibility of taking care of a pet and how hard work has its own rewards. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since I do not see anything inappropriate about this book.
From my Epinions Review:
http://www99.epinions.com/review/Arth...
July 18, 2013
My son picked out this book to read because he really likes to watch the show Arthur on TV. I also like the show when it comes on TV but I wasn't really to fond of reading the book. I began to look more into the writing to see what I did like about the book and what I didn't like. One of the writing crafts that I think the author used was a sense of place. I think he really tried to make the reader feel as if they were at Arthur's home and see how hard it was for him to run his pet business. I don't think that he used this aspect of writing very well because too much of the writing consisted of what each character was saying and not really setting the mood as much. For example, each sentence would be a different phrase from different characters in the book and then it would say the character who said it at the end of the phrase. At times this was getting very annoying because as I was reading the book I wouldn't know how to change my voice if I was a different character because I wouldn't know who was talking until after the phrase was said. I also thought that conversation phrases shouldn't make up 90 percent of a book in general. If your telling a story then you have to have some story lines in the book and not just a bunch of conversations like you do on TV. I liked the idea of them using conversation to express the characters in the story and I would tell my students to use that if I was a writing teacher but I would tell them to not let it take over their entire book like this author did.
May 6, 2010
this is another book that i used in an Author study of Marc Brown. In this book Arthur wants to show his parents that he can be responsiable enough to own a pet. He does this by opening his own pet business.
June 19, 2026
It's 1990 and we are firmly in round head territory (I glanced at the Marc Brown bibliography and there's a bunch of holiday books in the 1980s as well as the classic Arthur's Teacher Trouble so I will keep an eye out for those...). Arthur wants a pet, but his parents want him to prove he's responsible and I really don't blame them considering they have Baby Kate here and phew, adding a dog would be another layer of chaos.
Arthur decides to prove their point by advertising his services as a pet sitter, bringing a menagerie of domestic and exotic pets to his house, much to Mother's chagrin. His first customer is a grumpy dog named Perky, and she's quickly joined by a boa constrictor (owned by a human magician with a ruddy nose), a canary, frogs, and an ant farm. At the end, Perky disappears when her owner comes to pick her up but! Turns out she's bonded well enough to Arthur to hide under his bed and prove how responsible he is.
but like, can we talk about how weird it is that Arthur wants a dog when his classmates Binky and Fern are also dogs
Arthur decides to prove their point by advertising his services as a pet sitter, bringing a menagerie of domestic and exotic pets to his house, much to Mother's chagrin. His first customer is a grumpy dog named Perky, and she's quickly joined by a boa constrictor (owned by a human magician with a ruddy nose), a canary, frogs, and an ant farm. At the end, Perky disappears when her owner comes to pick her up but! Turns out she's bonded well enough to Arthur to hide under his bed and prove how responsible he is.
but like, can we talk about how weird it is that Arthur wants a dog when his classmates Binky and Fern are also dogs
May 18, 2019
A cute and simple story about Arthur wanting a puppy, but to earn one he has to prove that he's responsible enough to care for a dog. And what better way to prove you're responsible enough to take care of an animal but to take care of OTHER people's animals?
Admittedly most of the writing is character dialogue instead of a mix of dialogue and actions. I've only ever seen mostly dialogue in comic books, usually a kids book will somewhat describe what the characters are doing, but this one seems to rely solely on the illustrations to make up the "what the characters are doing and where they are in their environment". It makes sense, show with images talking with words, but after reading so many books, regardless of how much or how little illustration there is, I find it really weird to not have so little [if any] descriptors about what the characters are actively doing before, as, and after they speak.
Admittedly most of the writing is character dialogue instead of a mix of dialogue and actions. I've only ever seen mostly dialogue in comic books, usually a kids book will somewhat describe what the characters are doing, but this one seems to rely solely on the illustrations to make up the "what the characters are doing and where they are in their environment". It makes sense, show with images talking with words, but after reading so many books, regardless of how much or how little illustration there is, I find it really weird to not have so little [if any] descriptors about what the characters are actively doing before, as, and after they speak.
May 4, 2017
It's Arthur....right? If you have liked the rest of the Arthur series then you will like this one. In this book Franklin proves that he is ready for his own pet by showing he can be responsible for his neighbor and friend's pets. There is a happy ending. Gasp!
February 2, 2022
Arthur really wants a pet dog but his parents make him prove he is responsible. So Arthur creates a pet sitting business to help show just how responsible he can be. A cute story perfect for younger readers.
June 22, 2022
Marc Brown's classic character Arthur sets out to prove to his parents that he is responsible enough to have a pet dog. He sets up his own pet watching business to prove his worthiness. The plan works and he finds himself not only richer but a proud puppy owner by the end.
May 8, 2026
From 10 yo Rosalie: I really liked it ALOT! I liked how it had a little plot twist that Perky is actually the mother of Pal. And I liked how D.W kept saying “You owe me 7 bucks LOL” and Arthur earned his responsibility of having a dog.
November 21, 2017
D.W. is such a jerk!
January 27, 2018
I love Arthur! Always have.
I've noticed (as an adult) that D.W. is extra bratty, which I remembered but it's so much more than that. XP
I've noticed (as an adult) that D.W. is extra bratty, which I remembered but it's so much more than that. XP
August 3, 2018
I can't believe Arthur only got paid ten bucks to watch a lady's dog for a week and deliver some puppies. He got screwed.
November 24, 2018
Happy Birthday, Marc Brown November 25, 1945.. Always loved watching Arthur with my kids.
February 21, 2019
A well-developed children's story about being responsible as a pet keeper. Good to educate kids and children about pets, how to keep pets, and responsibility.
December 9, 2019
This book goes through Arthur's journey of taking care of neighbor's pets and learning the responsibility of owning a pet.
July 4, 2020
Nice story on responsibility of owning a pet.
August 21, 2020
Arthur, deciding to start a Pet Business to prove he can care for a puppy runs into all sorts of calamities taking care of all the pets he finds!
July 8, 2021
Alissa loved finding the name Perky all through the book.
February 6, 2022
Super cute book
July 22, 2022
Cute little story. Some inaccuracies, but I quibble. Love D.W.'s snakiness.
March 2, 2023
Great artwork and a cute little story.
March 27, 2023
I hope this didn’t give the kids any ideas.
December 8, 2023
Such a great, classic Arthur!
March 21, 2024
I remember this book a lot too! It has the cutest lil snek ☺️ and prime DW snark 😂
January 27, 2025
Arthur wanted a pet so he took care of other people‘s pets to prove to his parents that he was responsible enough. Arthur got very busy as it became known what he was doing. Nice surprise at the end.
January 30, 2025
I loved this story from the first page to the last, especially the unexpected ending. I’ll definitely be getting this book for my child to read before they get a pet.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews