Arthur, for the Very First Time by Patricia MacLachlan

First published: 1980; illustrated

Subjects: Coming-of-age, family, and friendship

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Domestic realism

Time of work: The late twentieth century

Recommended Ages: 10-13

Locale: Northern farm country of the United States

Principal Characters:

• Arthur Rasby, a young boy who is unhappy about his mother’s pregnancy
• Aunt Elda, his eccentric great-aunt
• Uncle Wrisby, his equally unusual great-uncle
• Moira MacAvin, an independent young girl who has been abandoned by her parents
• Moreover, Moira’s grandfather, the local veterinarian

Form and Content

Arthur, for the Very First Time is the humorous story of a ten-year-old boy who learns to accept himself, his family, and his life. It is filled with charming and eccentric people and animals, such as an aunt who climbs out on a tree limb to leave a hank of her hair for a mockingbird to use in its nest and a chicken who sleeps in a crib and responds best when addressed in French. Patricia MacLachlan skillfully blends her unusual characters in a world that verges on fantasy but retains a unique and charming reality.

Arthur Rasby is miserable as summer begins. His parents are fighting, his friends are away, and his mother is pregnant. After Arthur deliberately makes his mother sick by asking for a pet rat, his parents take him to stay with Aunt Elda and Uncle Wrisby on their farm. Arthur is delighted there. The atmosphere is different from his home: He is able to choose whatever room he wants and is even able to pick the vegetables that he will eat.

The difference becomes even more obvious on his first morning there when Pauline, the chicken, awakens him. Shortly thereafter, Aunt Elda shows him a mockingbird outside his window, filling him with a sense of excitement about the interesting things that will happen during his visit. The adventures begin when he meets a young neighbor, Moira MacAvin, the granddaughter of Moreover, the veterinarian.

Moira gives Arthur the nickname “Mouse” and fascinates him with her independence and imagination. The two children become close, discussing their likes and fears: Arthur’s journal and his love of writing, his mother’s pregnancy, Moira’s abandonment by her parents, and her fear that Moreover does not really love her. Moira encourages Arthur to develop his own imagination.

Although Arthur has received several letters from his parents, he refuses to read any of them. Instead, he reads a book about pigs that Moira gave him, soon deciding to build a birthing pen for Bernadette, Uncle Wrisby’s pregnant pig. When the pen is finished, Bernadette refuses to go in it. Arthur is disappointed, but Aunt Elda makes him think about his reasons for building the pen by telling him the story of her Aunt Mag, a mail-order bride from Maine who brought a prism with her when she traveled west. A prism sends colors all over, reminding people of how they touch one another’s lives.

Arthur decides that Pauline looks ill, so the two children dose the hen—and themselves—with Uncle Wrisby’s “tonic.” Both chicken and children get drunk. When Moreover discovers what they have done, he spanks Moira. She is happy because she realizes that he punished her because he feared losing her. She is finally convinced that he loves her.

At last, Arthur writes to his parents and reads their letters. Later, while Moira and Arthur are alone during a storm, they realize that Bernadette is in labor in the new pen. Fearing that the piglets will drown in the mud, they hold a tarpaulin over her and rescue the piglets. After Arthur saves the smallest piglet, Moira praises her friend by finally calling him by his real name.

Critical Context

Patricia MacLachlan is an award-winning author particularly identifiable by the warm, eccentric families that populate her novels. Born in Wyoming and reared in Minnesota, she bases many stories on her life and on tales about her ancestors. Aunt Mag was based on a distant relative, a mail-order bride from the East Coast. The character was more fully developed in Sarah, Plain and Tall (1985), which won the Newbery Medal. MacLachlan frequently redevelops characters; for example Moira’s background is used in Journey (1991).

Arthur, for the Very First Time won the Gold Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers in 1980. MacLachlan describes it as one of her favorite stories. It is typical of her books, filled with articulate and thoughtful young people and adults who defy the established norms. She clearly shows that it may be difficult to be different. Characters such as Arthur, children who must learn to live with eccentric people, frequently grow themselves as they learn to experience the world in a new way. MacLachlan’s characters are warm and loving. Although many of her details verge on the fantastic, such as animals that seem almost human, she never strays too far from realism. Instead, she leaves the reader with a picture of a world where both adults and children learn to follow their dreams.