Bread and Jam for Frances (Module 1)

Summary
 Bread and Jam for Frances is a story of Frances the Badger. She is a young girl and the story focuses on her at meal time. Everyone else is raving about the food they eat- but Frances just wants bread and jam, at every meal. Her parents play a little trick on her to get her out of her habits.

Suggested Activity
I think this book would be great for 1st or 2nd grade students. I would think kindergarten would be good, too, however it's a little long and may not keep the attention of the littlest students. For this activity, I would have students start by drawing a picture of their favorite meal in the whole world. They could show it to their friends and talk about it as a class. Then I would read the story of Frances to the students. I would ask them to write a few sentences about what it would be like to eat the same food everyday, with no other choices! I think the kids would really enjoy thinking about that.
I also think this story might be a good one to share with a parent who has a kid who will only eat one thing! Hopefully they could read this and learn the same trick Frances' parents tried to stop her from eating bread and jam!

Reviews

This point immediately made me think of another exception, and a telling one: Russell Hoban's Bread and Jam for Frances (1964). Surely the story's entire plot revolves around revulsion (though never showing it directly), down to the many verses (published separately, too!) that Frances sings about her absolute disgust toward eggs: "I do not like the way you slide, / I do not like your soft inside, / I do not like you lots of ways, / And I could do for many days / Without eggs" (6). But I also see a pattern here, a gendering one: isn't Frances (and the audience-child who chooses to identify with her) being socialized to consume delicately, moderately, in a balanced and tasteful way? This message is far from the masculinized subtexts above: eat for strength. It is about taste, not strength or even sustenance. Frances is supposed to be aconspicuously tasteful consumer.
Honeyman, S.(2007). Gingerbread Wishes and Candy(land) Dreams: The Lure of Food in Cautionary Tales of Consumpion. Marvels & Tales 21(2), 195-215. Wayne State University Press. 



My Thoughts
I was initially surprised by this book and the message it sends. I went into reading it thinking it was a light hearted, silly book about a badger eating bread and jam. I noticed first how wordy each page was and felt like some kids may lose interest in the story because of it's length.  In my mind this was a book for much younger kids than how it actual appeared to be.
Once I finished the book, I felt like it was more intended for parents really than kids. I think lots of kids go through what Frances does- eating the same foods, trading lunches, not liking what your mom cooks for dinner. I think that frustrates parents more than it frustrates kids, and this book showed the opposite. I really don't feel like many young students can relate to this book, I think one would need to be older to appreciate the story line.

Bibliography
Hoban, R., & Hoban, L. (1964). Bread and jam for frances. China: HarperCollinsPublishers.