A Bargain for Frances by Russell Hoban, for the #1970Club

Frances the Badger is best known for refusing to go to sleep (Bedtime for Frances), being unadventurous about food (Bread and Jam for Frances), disgruntled about her new sibling (A Baby Sister for Frances), exploring friendship (Best Friends for Frances) and upset that it is not her birthday (A Birthday for Frances) but in this book she deals with something familiar to at least some of us – a sneaky friend.

Frances is going to Thelma’s house to play and doesn’t listen to her mother, who warns her to be careful:

“Why do I have to be careful?” said Frances.

“Remember the last time?” said Mother.

“Which time was that?” said Frances.

“That was the time you played catch with Thelma’s new boomerang,” said Mother. “Thelma did all the throwing, and you came home with lumps on your head.”

“I remember that time now,” said Frances.

This time, they are planning a tea party so what could go wrong? Frances is looking forward to buying her own china tea set with blue pictures on it once she saves enough. But when Thelma finds out Frances has some savings already she persuades her friend to buy Thelma’s inferior plastic tea set. Frances runs home for her money (presumably dodging her astute mother) and they make the exchange.

“No backsies on this,” said Thelma.

“All right,” said Frances. “No backsies.”

But when she gets home, her sister says the plastic tea set is ugly and tells her the one Frances really wanted is available at the store for less than what Frances paid Thelma. When Frances goes to look, she sees Thelma buying the china tea set with the blue pictures! Frances may have been too trusting but now the iron has entered her soul. She sings one of the little songs she is known for:

“Now that plastic’s what I’ve got,

Backsies are what there is not.

Mother told me to be careful,

But Thelma better be bewareful.”

Frances craftily puts a penny in the sugar bowl and calls Thelma, asking if “no backsies” means she can keep what’s in the sugar bowl. Thelma is afraid she must have left something valuable in the tea set, so agrees to relax the “no backsies” rule and Frances is able to negotiate a trade, so she gets the tea set she really wanted. Thelma is angry when she learns she has been tricked and says she’ll have to be careful when playing with Frances, ironically echoing Mother Badger’s warning. 

 “Being careful is not as much fun as being friends,” said Frances. “Do you want to be careful, or do you want to be friends?”

Thelma admits she wants to be friends so they are reconciled and go buy candy with a dime that was conveniently left over.

Russell Hoban wrote seven books about the appealing Frances and they are all very funny and outstanding readalouds. Because this was written as an I Can Read Book, Frances is a little older, as are her readers. They are old enough to recognize Thelma’s perfidy and rejoice in Frances’ triumph; however, the ultimate message is that friendship is more important than tea sets. I hope Thelma is paying attention as I am a former tea set owner and doubt I would be so forgiving.

My graduate school Capstone was about Russell Hoban’s sister Tana (1917-2006), a photographer and creator of children’s books. She was well known for her concept books for preschoolers. By taking color and black-and-white photos of familiar objects and surroundings, she made letters, numbers, colors, opposites and more very accessible to small children, primarily in board books. I examined her papers at the DeGrummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.

I chose A Bargain for Frances for the 1970 Club, which is hosted by Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Stuck in a Book. If you aren’t familiar with Frances, you can readalong with this book at the link below.  Hoban is also known for his adult novels, including Riddley Walker and Amaryllis Night and Day, for which Simon makes a case.

Title: A Bargain for Frances (YouTube)
Author: Russell Hoban
Illustrator: Lillian Hoban
Publication: HarperCollins, hardcover, 1970
Genre: Children’s fiction
Setting: 20th century United States
Source: Library

Off the Blog: I am briefly in Santa Fe for a Fines & Fees Conference, which was very interesting.  I was able to see an old friend and her husband before the conference began but it has been too busy for sightseeing, alas.  I did manage to visit the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi during my lunch break and lit a candle there for my father.

Frances illustration copyright to HarperCollins.  Exterior shot of the Cathedral from Wikipedia.

Interior photos are my own.