Arthur

ARTHUR and friends welcome a new character - a baby sister for BinkyBarnes - this fall when the Emmy-Award winning series tacklesadoption from a child's perspective. On Friday, September 7th (checklocal listings) the series starring Marc Brown's beloved animatedaardvark captures a family's experience with adoption in a special 2-part episode.In 'Big Brother Binky', Arthur's friend Binky's family adopts a babygirl from China and Binky learns not only the importance of being abig brother but that families come in all different shapes in sizes.Binky manages the joys, and sometimes difficulties, of understandinghis new sister with humor and imagination and becomes the proudestbig brother in Elwood City.Expanding upon the series' well-established commitment to addressingtopics that children of all backgrounds can relate to, this episodeundertakes a topic that affects millions of people every day in allparts of the world. By exploring the adoption process from Binky'santicipation of the baby's arrival, to the ups and downs of gettingto know one another, and finally to the joy of welcoming the babyinto Binky's heart and home, ARTHUR opens the doors for discussionaround adoption among parents, children, and educators.According to ARTHUR creator Marc Brown, "What the series does best isreflect the lives of kids in an authentic and fun way that resonateswith both viewers and their parents. Because adoption is so importantto so many families, we thought it was a great opportunity for ARTHURto explore this subject."Executive Producer Pierre Valette adds, "We put a lot of work intothis episode -- including extensive research and interviews with manyadoptive families. To tell this story thoroughly and well, we decidedto devote both 11 minute animated stories in the episode to it --something that we rarely do. We hope that the millions of familiestouched by adoption in this country, and around the world, will findfamiliarity and accuracy in our portrayal of the experience of thesecharacters."