Maria Pappas

Maria  is a third grader who attends Mr. Ratburn's class at Lakewood Elementary School.

Pre-Lakewood years
Maria is not in the class picture of Mrs. Robertson's kindergarten class from three years ago, meaning that she came to Lakewood at a later year than the majority of her current classmates did.

Second grade
Maria was present at Lakewood Elementary in second grade, but was not in Mr. Marco's class, unlike most of her third grade classmates. Her most noteworthy event during this year was walking into the girls' bathroom when Arthur had accidentally entered moments earlier.

Third grade
Maria was part of the screaming crowd when Arthur announced that they were going to be in Ratburn's class. She, along with the other third graders, eventually got used to Ratburn and now likes being in his class.

Future Life
In a possible glimpse into the future, an adult Maria is in the crowd behind President Mary Alice Crosswire at the new president's inauguration ceremony. Maria wears a trench coat and holds a notepad, suggesting she will be a journalist. It is unknown if this is actually a glimpse of Maria's future.

Physical appearance
Maria is a rabbit with a cream complexion. She wears a light blue skirt and a dark blue and pink striped shirt, along with brown shoes. She has orange-brown hair in the form of a Bow cut.

Alternate apparel
In the fall, she wears a magenta jacket, a magenta jacket with buttons, or a blue jacket.

In the winter, she wears a green-blue jacket, a pink scarf, pink mittens, purple leggings, and snow boots. For cold weather, she sometimes instead wears a pink sweater, teal sweatpants, and green-blue sneakers.

In the summertime she wears a pink T-shirt with light blue stripes and a white collar, a light blue dress, and her usual brown shoes. For hot weather, she will also wear a light blue T-shirt and dark blue shorts. She wore a light blue and pink swimsuit while swimming at Muffy's mansion. She also wore an orange swimsuit with an orange scuba mask, oxygen tank, and black flippers when scuba diving with Muffy in her pool.

She has had two different types of formal clothes. One was a white shirt, a blue dress, long white socks, and brown shoes. She wore this outfit for a class picture, albeit in Brain's dream. Her other outfit was worn at Muffy's Christmas party: a green dress with a red collar and red sash, long red socks, and black Mary Jane shoes. At Prunella's birthday party, she wore a pink sweater with a dark blue collar and her usual light blue skirt.

For sleeping, Maria wears pink pajamas.

Her gym clothes are a light blue T-shirt, dark blue shorts, white socks, and red and white sneakers. When she participates in track and field, she wears the new green and yellow uniform. She also wore a karate uniform when learning karate at the community center.

Her costume for the Thomas Edison play was a dark blue top hat, a burgundy coat, olive green trousers, a white collared shirt, and a magenta necktie. Her costume for the Elwood City centennial play was a white long-sleeved shirt, a pink vest, jeans, dark blue sneakers, and a pink baseball cap.

After Buster ate the remainder of his fundraiser chocolates, he imagined the school band with makeshift instruments and old uniforms. Maria was wearing a dark blue button-down shirt with gold highlights and gold shirt cuffs, gold suspenders, an alizarin crimson skirt, and tan cowboy boots with gold stripes.

Maria wore a surgical mask, hairnet, and medical scrubs when she and the class were making ice cream. She wore a surgical mask again in one of Francine's imagination sequences.

At a presidential inauguration in the possible future, Maria wears a brown trench coat.

Glasses
One time in second grade when she was talking with John in the hallway, Maria was wearing glasses. She wore her glasses through the first days of third grade, but stopped wearing them after that year's Spellathon. It is likely that now she wears contact lenses instead.

Nose
Maria's nose is normally a "Y"-shaped nose typical of rabbits. On several occasions, however, her nose has appeared like an aardvark's nose. Other times, she has had a bear's nose or a cat's nose.

Lookalikes
Maria has three lookalikes:
 * 3rd Grade Female Bear (Number 2) - a Glenbrook Academy student.
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 2) - a recolored version of Maria used as an extra character.
 * Last Year's Maria - one of Binky's former classmates from last year.

Quietness
Maria is normally quiet in class, usually from shyness. In spite of this, however, she does often participate in class lessons. For one oral history report she had given, the grade she received was a 'B'. She once said something that upset Francine, although exactly what she said is unknown.

Interests
Maria likes the Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club Series, the Finnish band BINKY, and several sports, for example basketball and soccer. Maria owns a doll that she plays with on occasion. She is also a fan of Bionic Bunny. Her favorite food appears to be cheese, considering how she brought a plate of cheese for the 'one food to bring to a desert island' project.

Club activities
Despite never talking, Maria is a member of the Lakewood Elementary Choir. Maria also plays the tambourine for the school band. She participates on the Track and Field Team and was a member of the Lakewood Pride Committee during its short existence. She also often visits the community center and the library.

Family

 * Mother - Maria's mother was with Maria at the Sugar Bowl and at Toys.
 * Steve - Maria's older brother Steve also goes to Lakewood. They often talk with each other between classes. The two were confirmed to be related by their participation in the brother-and-sister race at the Annual Picnic.

Friends

 * Alex - Maria and Alex are the most recurring of the subtle characters. She and Alex are also friends and are often seen together in many episodes. These two are also the last characters in Mr. Ratburn's class that have not been focused on in the series.
 * Buster - Buster once bounced a crumbled piece of paper off her head, which annoyed her. However, Maria danced with Buster at Prunella's birthday party and they talked at Jenna's party.
 * Fern - Maria and Fern have gone to the Ice Cream Shop to get ice cream together before.
 * Jenna - Maria sometimes walks to class with Jenna.
 * John - Maria has been seen talking with John.
 * Muffy - She and Muffy went scuba diving in the latter's pool when Arthur told them that Buster was coming home.
 * Prunella - Prunella must know Maria somehow because she invited her as one of her six guests to her birthday party.
 * 3rd Grade Male Rat - He and Maria went to see the Bionic Bunny 5-movie marathon together.

Residence
Maria was seen on the front steps of her house, though the main house was not visible. However, Maria was seen with Jenna in a house next door to Grandma Thora's house. This may be her house, or Jenna's. The inside of her house was seen when she talks on the phone about Sue Ellen. The room seen had light pink walls.

Character development
Maria and Alex were created to keep the classroom from looking too empty. Both Maria and her brother Steve were designed based on characters from the 1986 book Arthur's Teacher Trouble.

Maria is currently the only student in Mr. Ratburn's class to not have a solo speaking role. This may soon change, however.

Appearances
Maria has made many appearances throughout the series. Her significant roles are in bold.

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Arthur

 * Season 1
 * 101a "Arthur's Eyes"
 * 102a "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn"
 * 102b "Arthur's Spelling Trubble"
 * 103b "Buster's Dino Dilemma"
 * 107b "Buster Makes the Grade"
 * 110a "Arthur's Birthday"
 * 110b "Francine Frensky, Superstar"
 * 117b "Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper"
 * 121a "Sue Ellen Moves In"
 * 122b "Team Trouble"
 * 123a "Bully for Binky"
 * 123b "Misfortune Teller"
 * 127b "Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble"
 * 128b "The Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club"
 * Season 2
 * 201a "Arthur Meets Mister Rogers"
 * 201b "Draw!"
 * 205a "Arthur's Underwear"
 * 208b "The Big Blow-Up"
 * 215a "Grandma Thora Appreciation Day"
 * 215b "Fern's Slumber Party"
 * 218a "Arthur vs. the Very Mean Crossing Guard"
 * 218b "D.W.'s Very Bad Mood"
 * 220b "Sue Ellen's Little Sister"
 * Season 3
 * 301a "Buster's Back"
 * 303b "Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurus"
 * 304b "And Now Let's Talk to Some Kids"
 * 305b "Revenge of the Chip"
 * 306b "Meet Binky"
 * 307a "Arthur Rides the Bandwagon"
 * 307b "Dad's Dessert Dilemma"
 * 311b "Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival"
 * 313a "Arthur's Dummy Disaster"
 * 315b "The Long, Dull Winter"
 * Season 4
 * 401a "D.W.'s Library Card"
 * 401b "Arthur's Big Hit"
 * 403a "Buster's Breathless"
 * 409b "Buster's Best Behavior"
 * Season 5
 * 505b "You Are Arthur"
 * 506a "The Election"
 * 506b "Francine Goes to War"
 * 508b "Bitzi's Beau"
 * Season 6
 * 602b "Buster's Sweet Success"
 * 603a "Prunella's Special Edition"
 * 604b "Brother, Can You Spare a Clarinet?"
 * 605a "The Boy Who Cried Comet"
 * 606a "Citizen Frensky"
 * 607a "The Boy with His Head in the Clouds"
 * Season 7
 * 703a "Ants in Arthur's Pants"
 * 705 "Elwood City Turns 100!"
 * 706b "Jenna's Bedtime Blues"
 * 707b "Buster's Amish Mismatch"
 * 708a "The World of Tomorrow"
 * 710 "April 9th"
 * Season 8
 * 803b "Bugged"
 * 804a "Fernkenstein's Monster"
 * 804a "D.W., Dancing Queen"
 * 805a "Vomitrocious"
 * 807a "Desk Wars"
 * Season 9
 * 901a "Castles in the Sky"
 * '''901b "Tipping the Scales"
 * 902a "Francine's Big Top Trouble"
 * 902b "George Blows His Top"
 * 909b "Buster the Myth Maker"
 * 910a "Binky Goes Nuts"
 * Season 10
 * 1002a "The Squirrels"
 * 1003a "Desert Island Dish"
 * 1008a "Binky vs. Binky"
 * 1009a "Do You Speak George?"
 * 1010a "What's Cooking?"
 * 1010b "Buster's Special Delivery"
 * Season 11
 * 1101b "Germophobia"
 * 1104b "Brain's Shocking Secret"
 * 1107b "Mr. Alwaysright"
 * 1108a "Francine's Pilfered Paper"
 * 1108b "Buster Gets Real"
 * Season 12
 * 1203b "Bats in the Belfry"
 * 1209b "Do You Believe in Magic?"
 * 1210a "The Perfect Game"
 * Season 13
 * 1301b "Prunella and the Disappointing Ending"
 * 1302a "The Silent Treatment"
 * 1303a "Arthur's Number Nightmare"
 * 1304a "MacFrensky"
 * 1305 "The Great MacGrady"
 * 1306a "George and the Missing Puzzle Piece"
 * 1309b "The Pride of Lakewood"
 * Season 14
 * 1401a "The Wheel Deal"
 * 1401b "The Buster Report"
 * 1410b "The Long Road Home"
 * Season 15
 * 1501 "Fifteen"
 * 1502a "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"
 * 1504a "Cents-less"
 * '''1504b "Buster the Lounge Lizard"
 * 1506a "Prunella the Packrat"
 * 1506b "What's in a Name?"
 * 1509b "The Trouble with Trophies"
 * Season 16
 * 1601 "Based on a True Story"
 * 1602a "Flippity Francine"
 * 1602b "Muffy Takes the Wheel"
 * 1604a "Get Smart"
 * 1606a "The Last Tough Customer"
 * 1607b "Brain's Biggest Blunder"
 * 1608a "Buster's Book Battle"
 * 1610a "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh"
 * 1610b "The Best Day Ever" (in a flashback)

Postcards from Buster

 * Season 1
 * 105 "Among the Hmong"

Specials

 * Arthur's Perfect Christmas (2000)
 * Arthur, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (2002)

Books

 * Arthur's Teacher Trouble (1986)
 * Arthur Lost and Found (1998)
 * Arthur's Off to School (2004)

Websites
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 * Arthur Comics: So Funny I Forgot to Laugh!