Frances is a little badger with a big imagination! These stories, written by Russell Hoban, were originally published in the 1960s. My girls love the rhymes and songs that Frances invents. Our three favorites are:
This is a bedtime story that I think we can all relate to as parents. In this story, Frances has trouble going to sleep. She needs a drink. She needs a piggyback ride. She needs her teddy bear. She needs her doll. She needs a kiss. Once in bed, she imagines a tiger in her room. She imagines a giant in her room. She imagines something scary behind the curtains. Finally, Father tells Frances that she will have to have a spanking if she does not go back to sleep. (Yes, I myself can see that this book will soon be outlawed!) Eventually, she goes to sleep and does not get out of bed until Mother calls her for breakfast.
In this story, Frances is disappointed with the state of affairs at home after the arrival of her baby sister, Gloria. Her blue dress is not ready. There are no raisins for the oatmeal. Things are just falling apart in the badger family! Before she leaves for school, she decides she will run away after dinner. She packs her knapsack with all the necessities for being on her own and ventures out...under the dining room table! Before long she telephones Mother and Father and returns "home" to her family, which is celebrated with chocolate cake!
We recently acquired this book as Maggie's reward for the Pottery Barn Kids' Summer Reading Challenge. Having one eater on the picky side, I appreciate the message of this book to young children! In this story, Frances refuses to eat anything but bread and jam. Ingeniously, Mother feeds Frances just that! Bread and jam for breakfast. Bread and jam for lunch. Bread and jam for snack. Bread and jam for dinner. Frances becomes FULL OF JAM and concludes that eating different kinds of foods is nice after all!
Don't miss these other Frances books, too:
They sound like nice books that get a message across and ones that children would like.
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