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May 8, 2009 10:34 am US/Central
Suburban Minneapolis Boy Wins 'Arthur' Contest
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
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The show about a boy aardvark and his family and friends has long stressed the importance of inclusiveness and diversity.
AP
An 11-year-old boy from Savage has won a nationwide contest to create a new character for the popular children's television show "Arthur."
The PBS show about a boy aardvark and his family and friends has long stressed the importance of inclusiveness and diversity, tackling issues from blindness and dyslexia to head lice and peanut allergies.
So earlier this year the show's producers, corporate sponsor -- the charitable arm of CVS Caremark pharmacy -- and creator, Marc Brown, held a contest for a new character with a disability that might make life different, but no less fun.
They received about 8,500 submissions from around the country and picked Lydia Fox, a creation by Connor Gordon, a sixth-grader from Savage.
The character is a girl fox in a wheelchair, who loves to draw and plays basketball. Connor said he decided that Lydia started using a wheelchair after she had become paralyzed from the waist down while diving into the shallow end of a swimming pool.
"Some kids are born needing a wheelchair," he said. "But I had the idea that she got the wheelchair later on, so it would be harder on her, so she'd have to adapt to it."
He decided that she should also be starting a new school -- just like how he started sixth grade at Twin Oaks Middle School in Prior Lake -- and that she would like to use fabric paint to make colorful T-shirts, just like him.
Unlike Connor, however, Lydia is a girl. "When I thought of a fox, I thought of a girl because of their big bushy tail," he said. "I guess I think it looks sort of elegant."
On Thursday, Brown traveled to Savage and met Connor. They discussed drawing techniques and story lines for the new character. "I was just blown away by how carefully thought out she was," Brown said. "She'll fit right in."
A film crew from WGBH in Boston filmed the scene in Connor's kitchen, then filmed at Connor's former school. The segment will air nationally on the "Arthur" show on June 30. While there was no guarantee the winning character would make it into the animated show, the producers were so impressed the Lydia Fox that she'll probably make into upcoming episodes with Arthur, Buster, Francine, D.W. and the rest.
"The drawing is fabulous," said "Arthur" senior producer Jacqui Deegan. "And she just has that spirit of creativity and positive energy. We also love the idea of her being able to play wheelchair basketball. We like to show kids playing sports."
Connor said that when grows up, he'd like to be a cartoon animator. "It's my life's dream," he said.
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According to Wikipedia, Arthur has consistently remained one of the highest-rated shows on PBS Kids ever since it started airing in September 1996.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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