this week's library book
If you aren't familiar with Frances the Badger, you really should get to know her. I can't say Bedtime for Frances is my favorite in the series (I would vote for A Bargain for Frances) but I was excited when I saw it at the library last week, I remember these books so well from my childhood. The series is written by Russell Hoban, and I love Garth Williams' illustrations.
"The big hand of the clock is at 12. The little hand is at 7. It is seven o'clock. It is bedtime for Frances."
Frances is not at all tired. She tries to sing a song about the alphabet, she looks around her big, dark room and starts to wonder about tigers and giants and bugs and spiders. Each time she goes to visit her parents and they send her back to bed.
Frances notices the curtains on her window moving in the wind. When she asks her father about it, he says "That is the wind's job. Every night the wind has to go around and blow all the curtains... Everybody has a job... You have to go to sleep so that you can be wide awake for school tomorrow. That is your job." (I should mention that Frances' dad does tell Frances that she will get a spanking at the end of the book if she gets out of bed one more time. I tend to skip over that part.)
Frances hears a moth bump the window, she thinks to herself, "There were so many giants and tigers and scary and exciting things before, that I am pretty tired now. That is just a moth, and he is only doing his job, the same as the wind. His job is bumping and thumping, and my job is to sleep." Goodnight little Frances.
04.9.2010
Reader Comments (35)
Such a cute book! I love Frances. The illustrations are great! Thanks for sharing.
My daughter and I just read this book again this morning. We love Frances...maybe because she's a bit like my daughter.
I loved Francis my favorite was bread and jam for Francis (it was my mom's go to book when we were being picky eaters)
Sweet wonderful memories...
I loved those books.
I love Frances so much. Bargain and Bread and Jam are likely my favorites.
Oh my goodness... Frances is one of my favorite childhood memories too! I have such a love for Garth Williams' drawings, founded on all of the books I had as a child that were illustrated by him. I am glad to see another generation getting joy from these books :)
I love the Francis books! When I was little I would read them with my grandma and act them out. :)
When I was little, I had a tea set that came with an audio recording of A Bargain for Frances. There were many, many cups of tea drunk from that set, and I think I finally wore the cassette down to nothing.
Jennie
We recently discovered Frances at the library as well. Great old books.
I like books. I like France! I know this book is for me! :)
I have a copy but never read it to my little boy. Bedtime was hard enough, I didn't need him getting ideas on how to stall! : )
I remember Francis! How special!
Bargain is my favorite, too. Henson Studios made a motion-capture animation version of the Frances stories that we recently discovered on our On-Demand's (Time Warner) Preschool channel. They changed the spanking warning to "Dad's mad face", which works. They did a really nice job of translating these stories, though I wish they could have somehow just used the illustrations from the originals :)
Oh I love Frances! I actually bought A Bargain for Frances a few years ago.
A Bargin and A Birthday are my favorite. My sister and I still say compo bar.
I loved this book when I was little...library days were always special days with "Mommy"....glad to know other families are still enjoying these fun books!
I love this post... reminds me when my niece started reading... she became an avid reader! have a nice day!
I loved Frances! I still think she's cute as a button. Thank you for reminding me of her. :-)
Although the illustrations are so classic, we listened to some of the Frances books on tape read by Glynis Johns (what a voice!) and had the whole family (ages 1-72) enthralled. Such wonderful works.
oh my, what happy memories this brought back. My mother got me "A Baby Sister for Frances" when she was expecting my baby sister. I remember hiding under the kitchen table just like Frances in the book. Wow, I think my mom still has that book somewhere.