Best Friends for Frances

Growing up, I loved this book. In the story, Frances comes to learn that her younger sister, Gloria, can be her best friend, too. I have an older sister, so this book was really special for us, and now my sister and I are best friends. I think this is a great, easy read for kids in middle elementary school age. Not only are the pictures adorable, but it has an strong message of the importance of inclusion. Frances was excluded from the basketball game, so she decides to hang out with her sister, whom she thought she could never be friends with because of their differences. This book teaches kids that differences don't mean that you can't get along, and you never know who you could really enjoy spending time with. What I would love to show more see is, instead of animals, this book be about a child with a disability or a person of a different culture or background. This would translate better to kids, and we need more books about that. I recommend this to elementary school kids! show less

I realize that I have already professed my love for the Frances books by Russel Hoban but this is one of my very favorites. Having grown up the ONLY girl in my generation in a family FULL of boys, I love the part about girls who like playing sports and catching frogs. I find the story of Frances sticking up for herself an important lesson for children everywhere (and probably adults too!). I also absolutely love her wonderful songs. This book is a joy to read, I love making up new tunes for her songs. This is not only entertaining but an empowering book for little girls and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Some instant karma helps Frances realize the mistake she made in excluding her little sister from the fun time she wanted to have with her friend Albert.

If only people were as open to learning from their mistakes as cute little badgers . . .

My daughter liked this when she was two, and we re-read it many times.

FOR REFERENCE:

Rated "Good" in our old book database by Rod and Adelia

My little sister purchased the print and audio versions of this book at the book fair when we were little kids. We read and listened to it incessantly (well, we stopped to eat, sleep, and go to school), but most of our other waking hours for about a week or so were consumed with Best Friends for Frances by Russell Hoban (writer) and Lillian Hoban (illustrator).

Frances and Albert are best friends. They are also badgers who do not wear clothes, but that is completely irrelevant and only an issue if you are reading the book. Personally, as a child, I preferred listening to the book because of the cute, clever, and catchy songs (although, the illustrations are perfectly delightful, too).

Albert proves to be a bad best friend (a bbf, which is show more quite different than a bff) because he chooses to play baseball with the boys and leaves bf Frances (a girl) out in the cold. Frances is not a happy badger.

She decides to teach Albert a lesson by fixing a picnic that includes all of his favorite, mouth-watering treats and inviting her little sister, Gloria (previously thought to be a too-little-to-play-with pest) to go on a best-friends-no-boy-outing.

Frances's ploy works. Albert comes crawling back to her with his tail (yes, badgers do have tails) between his legs. And Frances learns that little sister Gloria is not a pest, but can also be a friend.

And we all learn valuable lessons about being a true friend, being more inclusive, and learning to like your younger siblings (they have a lot to offer...my younger sister shared her book with me!) In other words, or as Frances puts it, we're not just friends 'when it's goodies in the hamper time.' show less

Frances wants to play baseball with Albert, but when he shuts her out because she's a girl, Frances decides that her little sister Gloria will be her best friend. They parade past Albert's house with a tempting picnic that proves helpful in making a deal - and Gloria surprises them both with her frog-catching abilities.

This is not the most sympathetic story, with people excluding other people and only including them to get back at their OTHER friends, but it is pretty realistic to little-kid politics. Well, if you ignore the badgers, anyway.

First Frances won't play with her "baby" sister, then Albert won't play with girls, then Frances and her sister won't play with boys... oy! Luckily, everybody ends up realistically happy at the end.

This is not my favorite Frances book; I think it's too text heavy for one thing. Also everyone sort of behaves badly in this story except Gloria so it's hard to sympathize. Frances won't play with Gloria because she considers her too babyish; she wants to play with her friend Albert, but he wants to go off on an outing by himself because he considers her too girly. Later on, she tries to play ball with him, but he and his friend Harold won't let any girls play. Frances decides to get revenge by having a SUPERFUN outing with Gloria and not letting any boys come along. Yadda yadda yadda, it all ends happily with all four badgers playing baseball together.

It does show quite well the self-centeredness inherent in children's friendships! show more But, like I said, not a very sympathetic story. show less