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Kate Read
Kate
Age 1[1][2]
Gender Female
Animal Aardvark[3]
Birthday During the introduction of "Arthur's Baby"
Hair color Moderate orange[4]

Moderate tangelo[5]

Complexion Pale, light grayish vermilion (as a newborn baby)
Light gamboge (s1-s15)
Pale, light grayish amber (s16-s25)
Favorite color Yellow[6]
Residence Arthur's House
Family Jane Read (mother)
David Read (father)
Arthur Read (older brother)
D.W. Read (older sister)

Thora Read (paternal grandmother)
Dave (maternal grandfather)
Gustav (maternal great-great-grandfather)
Bonnie (aunt)
Sean (paternal uncle)
George (paternal cousin)
Bud (paternal uncle)
Loretta (paternal aunt)
Monique (paternal cousin)
Ricky (paternal cousin)
Loretta's daughter (paternal cousin)
Chrissy Read (paternal aunt)
Ryder Read (cousin)
Laurie (cousin)
Minnie Read (paternal aunt)
Jessica (maternal aunt)
Richard (maternal uncle)
Cora (maternal cousin)
Lucy (maternal aunt)
Lucy's husband (maternal uncle-in-law)
Fred (maternal uncle)
David's brother (paternal uncle)
Claudia (aunt)
Hilary (aunt)
Ruthie (aunt)
Theodore Read (great-granduncle)
Dora Winifred Read (great-grandaunt)
Jane's great-grandfather (maternal great-great-grandfather)
Jane's great-grandmother (maternal great-great-grandmother)
Matthew (maternal great-great-granduncle)
Thora's brother 1 (paternal granduncle)
Thora's brother 2 (paternal granduncle)
Thora's brother 3 (paternal granduncle)
Thora's father (paternal great-grandfather)
Thora's mother (paternal great-grandmother)
Thora's mother's great-uncle (paternal great-great-great-granduncle)
Book debut Arthur's Baby
Cartoon debut "Arthur's Spelling Trubble"
Voiced by Tracy Braunstein (s6-21)

Kate Read (also known as Baby Kate) is the youngest child of Jane and David Read and the younger sister of Arthur and D.W. Read.

Personality[]

Early life[]

Newborn Baby Kate

Kate as a newborn.

Kate was first seen as a newborn in "Arthur's Baby" and "D.W.'s Baby", but she had a few other appearances in earlier episodes and in the book series.

On her first birthday, Kate puts her face on her birthday cake.

Kate is portrayed as the innocent baby of the Read family. She spends most of her time with her family and taking naps. She enjoys playing in the sandbox and shows remarkable intelligence for her age, despite not being able to communicate well with people older than herself. Arthur struggles to interact with Kate at first, but later learns to take care of her in a loving way.[7] D.W. shares a room with Kate, which can be a source of conflict between the two sisters.[8]

Kate likes to play with the family pet dog, Pal, with whom she shares a special bond.[9][10] In "Arthur's Lost Dog," she has a crying fit over wanting a balloon and Pal runs off and bring her back one in order to cheer her up. This relationship is expanded upon extensively beginning in Season 6 and beyond. In "The Secret Life of Dogs and Babies", it is revealed that she can communicate in English with Pal, and they take part in adventures with other pets and babies of the neighborhood.[11] Although Kate speaks English, anyone older than her only hears her gibberish baby-talk, and Kate herself can only distinguish basic words.

Growing up and future life[]

First revealed in "Paradise Lost," Kate is getting older and losing her ability to talk to Pal and other pets and learning to speak to older individuals instead. She is also learning to walk short distances in "Mei Lin Takes a Stand".

During Arthur's dream in "D.W. and the Beastly Birthday," Kate is shown at approximately age 5. She wears D.W.'s hand-me-downs, including her iconic pink jumper. She has fuller, red hair now, in the same style as when she was an infant, with a bow pulled up at the top of her head. As in the talking baby episodes, Kate is a sweet girl who does her best to have a good relationship with Arthur, while she seems to be afraid of D.W. who calls her "Katie-Bug." Since this is entirely part of a dream sequence, the exact personality and appearance of Kate in the future is uncertain.

Kate is mentioned in the series finale episode, "All Grown Up." Now in her early twenties, Kate is taking a writing class taught by Buster Baxter. Buster mentions that Kate recently handed in a "really good" short story about a baby who can communicate telepathically with animals, referencing "The Secret Life of Dogs and Babies" and other "dog and baby" episodes.

In the book Arthur's Reading Trick, written and illustrated by series creator Marc Brown, she is able to recognize several objects by sight and say the words for them, such as "ball" and "diaper."

Physical appearance[]

Kate is an aardvark like her parents and siblings. She wears a pink shirt, green pajama pants, white disposable diapers, and a light green bow with a hairclip on her hair. Her swimwear is swim diapers that are about the same color as regular ones, a red bathing shirt, and a white bathing cap with red polka dots. When she was a newborn, she was wearing pink footsie pajamas with green accents. She also has a pacifier in her mouth; but since she became a one-year-old, she has rarely had one. An early Kate can be seen in "Arthur's Baby" and "D.W.'s Baby."

Trivia[]

  • She can talk, but only to non-anthropomorphic animals, toys and other babies (similar to Rugrats). She also talks to the viewers when she's featured in an episode's intro.
  • She can say "D.W." by copying D.W.'s lip movements, but she pronounces it as, "D Double woo".[12]
  • In material related to the series, she is commonly referred to as "Baby Kate." This name is also used in "Buster's Second Chance" and "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone."
  • In "The Secret Life of Dogs and Babies," it is revealed that she wants to go to Paris someday.
  • The sound of Kate's crying was used heavily throughout the series, especially in earlier seasons. The sound effect is not original to Arthur, rather it is a stock sound effect (Human, Baby - Crying), created by Sound Ideas' General Series 6000 back in fall 1990. The crying sound effect officially debuted on January 6, 1993 with the sixth episode of the Australian animated series The Adventures of Blinky Bill. Other productions that used that sound effect before Arthur include the Lifetime television film Stolen Babies and Walt Disney Animation Studios' Pocahontas. It has also been used in many other cartoons, such as Comedy Central's South Park and Cartoon Network's The Amazing World of Gumball, as well as some other films, such as DreamWorks Animation's last two Shrek films and Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen. Although the show had ended on February 21, 2022, the crying sound effect was still used in newer shows and newer movies such as The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power which first premiered on September 1, 2022. tailslover42 Deviantart Baby Colby Comic Part 1-10 (Sonic Colby Shadow Tails Sam's) Baby Colby Comic Part 11-20 (Sonic Colby Shadow Tails Vanilla Cream Doctor Eggman) (Colby The Hedgehog Baby ,Crying ,Laughing) baby colby comic Youtube to CocoSanJames
    • Similarly, Kate's laughing (Baby - Laughing, Human 01 and 02) was used in several other cartoons, such as The Simpsons and also in Frozen, after first being used in the 1988 movie The Prince of Pennsylvania.
  • On her Trading Card, her age is listed as "cute," even though she's one year old.
  • Her favorite color is yellow.
  • Kate's favorite joke is "bling blop flug erky flip blop."
  • Kate wants to be potty trained when she is older.
  • She also wants to visit the playground some day when she is older according to her training card.
  • As explained in "Paradise Lost," Kate eventually loses her ability to communicate with animals as she grows up. However, consciously or unconsciously, she seems to retain some memories of her early life; according to "All Grown Up," in her early twenties, she writes a short story about a baby who has a psychic connection to animals.

Appearances[]

This list is incomplete. Please add to it if you know another appearance.

Books[]

Arthur[]

The Arthur Podcast[]

Gallery[]

Arthur Goes to Camp 48
The full image gallery for Kate Read may be viewed at Kate Read/Gallery.

References[]


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