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Frances finds it difficult to go to sleep with the strange noises and menacing shapes that seem to fill her room after dark.Tags
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A pretty cute story about a restless and imaginative little badger trying unsuccessfully to settle down for bed.
The parents handle her pretty well until the threat of a spanking is dropped on the proceedings like an atomic bomb. It warps the story unpleasantly, but doesn't break it.
My daughter liked this when she was two, and we re-read it many times.
FOR REFERENCE:
#1521 in our old book database. Rated: Good.
Rated "Good" in our old book database by Rod and Adelia
The parents handle her pretty well until the threat of a spanking is dropped on the proceedings like an atomic bomb. It warps the story unpleasantly, but doesn't break it.
My daughter liked this when she was two, and we re-read it many times.
FOR REFERENCE:
#1521 in our old book database. Rated: Good.
Rated "Good" in our old book database by Rod and Adelia
This is a really great book to help with children who have a hard time with going to bed because of fears of the dark. However, in my opinion, it is not so great for children who don't have any issues with the dark because I have honestly experienced children using "scary noises" as an excuse after being read this book. (not the fault of the author of course) but overall I think this is yet another lovely chapter in the life of precocious Frances.
Simply put, it is a cute little story about a badger that can't fall asleep. She finds many reasons to stay awake: she needs kisses from her parents, she needs another glass of water, she hears a monster, and she sees a monster. The list goes on and on. This isn't a badger only phenomenon. I had the same problem.
As an adult, I obviously now identified more with the parents who wanted to eat their cake, drink their tea and watch television in peace. In the end Frances fell asleep despite having a real life distraction to really keep her awake. It's a cute book, though.
As an adult, I obviously now identified more with the parents who wanted to eat their cake, drink their tea and watch television in peace. In the end Frances fell asleep despite having a real life distraction to really keep her awake. It's a cute book, though.
Frances is so adorable - I want to reach through the pages and stroke her sweet head! In this one you also get to see her father's sweet grumpiness shine through. I remember when I was a child that bedtime could be very terrifying. I was so afraid of sleeping alone, but I forget why, really. But anyway, bedtime was a source of great anxiety for me, so I probably identified with Frances a lot when I read this as a child. As an adult, it's a fairly rote 'are there monsters under the bed?' story, but it's elevated by the illustrations which convey a good sense of a child's smallness and hesitancy when confronting her fears.
I don't know. The moral of the story here seems to be "if you don't do what your parents tell you, regardless of your feelings, you will be spanked". I'm not sure that's the best thing to end a story around. I was liking it until it took that turn, though. One line is a favorite of mine, that describes how quiet the girl is as she stands quietly by her dad's bed, and goes:
"She was so quiet that she was the quietest thing in the room". I thought "boy, that's pretty quiet". It is a cute story, and addresses a big fear of kids (what goes bump in the night, and not getting to sleep) but you have to decide how you feel about the spanking issue!
"She was so quiet that she was the quietest thing in the room". I thought "boy, that's pretty quiet". It is a cute story, and addresses a big fear of kids (what goes bump in the night, and not getting to sleep) but you have to decide how you feel about the spanking issue!
Bedtime for Frances, by Russell Hoban, pictures by Garth Williams. Harper & Row, 1960.
Similar to Olivia, Bedtime for Frances is a book that offers a space to work out and expand on that time of day for young children that is so difficult to settle into. The illustrations, while only black, white and green, are very inviting and Frances is very happy throughout the story. His parents repeat everything as he prepares for bedtime and all the dialogue in the story is given authorship by the narrator, which is a further repetition that slows the reading of the story. The story has two movements – the struggle to get Frances in bed and the struggle to keep him there. The story is successful in both encouraging Frances’ imagination and show more guiding it to the positive:
“ ‘There is a tiger in my room’ said Frances.
‘Did he bite you?’ said Father.
‘No,’ said Frances.
‘Did he scratch you?’ said Mother.
‘No,’ said Frances.
‘Then he is a friendly tiger,’ said Father. ‘He will not hurt you. Go back to sleep.’
One thing to watch out for is the threat of a spanking from Father as the only real success that puts Frances to sleep, which may not sit well with some parents. As for an overall tone or message, it is unclear and somewhat dubious – especially in light of the power the threat of physical violence from the Father wields in the story. show less
Similar to Olivia, Bedtime for Frances is a book that offers a space to work out and expand on that time of day for young children that is so difficult to settle into. The illustrations, while only black, white and green, are very inviting and Frances is very happy throughout the story. His parents repeat everything as he prepares for bedtime and all the dialogue in the story is given authorship by the narrator, which is a further repetition that slows the reading of the story. The story has two movements – the struggle to get Frances in bed and the struggle to keep him there. The story is successful in both encouraging Frances’ imagination and show more guiding it to the positive:
“ ‘There is a tiger in my room’ said Frances.
‘Did he bite you?’ said Father.
‘No,’ said Frances.
‘Did he scratch you?’ said Mother.
‘No,’ said Frances.
‘Then he is a friendly tiger,’ said Father. ‘He will not hurt you. Go back to sleep.’
One thing to watch out for is the threat of a spanking from Father as the only real success that puts Frances to sleep, which may not sit well with some parents. As for an overall tone or message, it is unclear and somewhat dubious – especially in light of the power the threat of physical violence from the Father wields in the story. show less
I really, really liked this story. Everything about it just has (for lack of better words) a sense of simplicity and cuteness. I know I can personally relate to Frances as a young child and her unwillingness to go to sleep. Her requests for more milk and kisses is absolutely adorable and made my heart melt. The pictures are simply yet follow the storyline perfectly. The main message is slightly vague in this story but perhaps it could be to help children understand the point of bedtime and it can be read to them before bed to make them feel less afraid of the typical nighttime terrors little children fear.
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Author Information
Russell Hoban was born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania on February 4, 1925. He attended art school in Philadelphia and during World War II, he served in the Army and earned a Bronze Star. He taught art in New York and Connecticut, and also worked as an advertising copywriter and a freelance illustrator before beginning his career as a writer. He began show more publishing children's books in the late 1950s, including What Does It Do and How Does It Work?, Bedtime for Frances and the six other books featuring Frances, The Story of Hester Mouse Who Became a Writer, What Happened When Jack and Daisy Tried to Fool the Tooth Fairies, and The Mouse and His Child, which was adapted as an animated film in 1977. In 1973, he published his first adult novel, The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz. His other books for adults include Turtle Diary, Pilgermann, and Ridley Walker. He received the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and the Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award for Ridley Walker. He died on December 13 at the age of 86. In 2015 he made the Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist for his title Jim's Lion wth illlustrator Alexis Deacon. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Garth Williams was born in New York City on April 16, 1912. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Art and won a British Prix de Rome as a sculptor. During World War II, he was wounded in an air raid while serving as a Red Cross ambulance dispatcher in London. He moved back to the United States and started his career as an illustrator. The first show more book he illustrated was Stuart Little by E. B. White. He went on to illustrate Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series, The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden, and others. In 1958, he wrote and illustrated The Rabbits' Wedding, which became the subject of controversy because the book dealt with a marriage between a white rabbit and a black rabbit. It was attacked by the White Citizens Council in Alabama and charged with promoting racial integration and was removed from general circulation by the Alabama Public Library Service Division. He died on May 8, 1996 at the age of 84. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Bedtime for Frances
- Original publication date
- 1960
- People/Characters
- Frances [in Russell Hoban's Frances series]
- Dedication
- This one is for Ursula.
- First words
- The big hand of the clock is at 12.
- Quotations
- "Everybody has a job," said Father. "I have to go to my office every morning at nine o'clock. That is my job. You have to go to sleep so you can be wide awake for school tomorrow. That is your job."
Frances said, "I kn... (show all)ow, but ... "
Father said, "I have not finished. If the wind does not blow the curtains, he will be out of a job. If I do not go to the office, I will be out of a job. And if you do not go to sleep now, do you know what will happen to you?"
"I will be out of a job?" said Frances.
"No," said Father.
"I will get a spanking?" said Frances.
"Right!" said Father.
Whack and smack made Frances think of a spanking. And all of a sudden she was tired. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)So she went to sleep and did not get out of bed again until Mother called her for breakfast.
- Original language
- English
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