Book of the Day: Bread and Jam for Frances

Bread and Jam for Frances
Author:  Russell Hoban
Illustrator:  Lillian Hoban
Harper Collins (1964)

I remember the Frances series from my own childhood.  Taking it home from the library with Mirette was akin to my visiting with an old friend. 

Frances, an adorable badger, only wants to eat bread and jam.  Her parents, in a move that's straight out of the parenting book Love and Logic,  do as she wishes.  Eventually she gets bored of eating only bread and jam thus imparting the age old wisdom--be careful what you wish for.  

I love kids books that teach something, but also remind us adults of some life truth.

Reading this book made me wonder, if the author and illustrator, husband/wife team, had some children that grappled with an issue like this.  The book is written from a very intimate angle.  

Time to investigate!

Russell Hoban (1925-2011) is a very well known fantasy writer.  In fact, it seems he is much better known and revered for his grown-up novels such as one called Riddley Walker.

As an interesting aside:  (From an excellent Salon.com article  http://www.salon.com/2011/12/21/russell_hoban_the_last_cult_writer/:   He was the kind of writer who inspired fans to celebrate his birthday by distributing sheets of yellow, A4-size writing paper (a recurring motif in his fiction) inscribed with favorite quotes in subway trains, parks and other public places around the world).   

His wife, at the time, Lillian Hoban illustrated the Frances books.  Just as I suspected,  the plot ideas were taken from the real life escapades of their four children.

A few websites say that the family went to visit London in 1969.  The family went home as planned, but Russell stayed in London, got divorced and had three more children with his second wife.   What the websites don't say is what really happened.  Was Lillian crushed or relieved?  How did the kids handle this?  Did they accept the new wife and kids?   These are the things I want to know, but the world wide web remains mum on the scandel this may have created.  (though I did read somewhere that he was estranged from his youngest daughter, the one that bread and jam is about).  

There's so much more on this guy--what a character, so check out the Salon article or this one in The Guradian.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/14/russell-hoban