This is the story of a boy monkey, his sister, and friends on their first day of school in which, owing to silly antics, they learn rules for ridding the school bus. Arthur looses his lunch box on the way to school and its contents is spilt along the road by Arthur's dog. Luckily, a kind friend returns Arthur's lunch box to him. Toward the end of the book Arthur's sister is looking forward to the treat she has packed in her lunch, chocolate cookies, and Arthur toward his. Arthur's treat however was lost in the mayhem of earlier and he is disappointed until his sister generously shares her cookies with him. The overt lesson in this book is the rules for ridding the bus, but the reader gains an understanding of friendship and generosity as well. The realistic topic is made more appealing for children by making the characters monkeys with humanistic traits and placing the story in a setting of the first day of school is something that is exciting for kids that age. The story teaches a lesson (safety rules and sharing) as it entertains, but this becomes slightly repetitive towards the end. ( )

Two young chimps, Arthur and little sister Violet, head out for the first day of school. On the bus, the children learn about safety rules. Because they are romping around, the lunches get mixed up, and all the things they had looked forward to were in someone elses lunch. Finally, things are straightened out and on the way home they find it's really a lot more fun to obey the safety rules for riding on the school bus.

Arthur the monkey not the aardvark by Marc Brown