Family Fridays – Bread and Jam for Frances (Frances Series) by Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban

Book: Bread and Jam for Frances (1964)

Series: Frances the Badger

Genre: Children’s general / early readers

Ages: 4-8 years old (younger is fine)

Blurb:

Frances is a fussy eater. In fact, the only thing she likes is bread and jam. She won’t touch her squishy soft-boiled egg. She trades away her chicken-salad sandwich at lunch. She turns up her nose at boring veal cutlets. Unless Mother can come up with a plan, Frances just might go on eating bread and jam forever!

Review:

I don’t remember reading any of the Frances books as a child, but when I got two recommendations for this book in a week, I decided to pick it up at the library. It seemed vaguely familiar to me, so I probably did read it eons ago. The story and illustrations are delightfully simple and fun, and I loved all the little songs Frances makes up. It tells a cautionary tale for picky eaters and what can happen when you get what you think you want. It made me laugh because I go on food kicks where I only want to eat one thing, so I’ll eat it for weeks on end, then I can’t bear to look at it anymore for another several months, when it comes back into rotation. My current obsession is cinnamon toast. It’s toast with butter and cinnamon and sugar and you can pretend it’s a real meal with a cup of tea. LOVE IT.

Anyways, I highly recommend this book for early readers or younger. One of my favorite things about it was when Frances unpacks her lunchbox and she’s got a little doily and vase of flowers in addition to her food, I thought that was just a sweet little touch. It was a charming book and I’m looking forward to exploring more of the Frances series. One warning I have is that based on the reviews, this book is slightly abridged from the original version. I don’t know about that, but I enjoyed it as is. If you had the original memorized, you might want to do some research before buying.

Have you read any of the Frances series? Are you or are your kids picky eaters?

Available: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

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