Frances is a badger cub who loves bread and jam. Mother badger cooks
delicious meals for her family, and Father badger enjoys
how each dish looks on the plate, and every day baby Gloria tries new foods. But Frances is quite content to eat bread and jam; in fact, at school she even trades her
delicious lunches that
Mother packs for her for—bread and jam. Finally, her mother decides to provide bread and jam for her at every meal, and she considers herself to be quite lucky. However, this does not last long. As she watches those around her enjoying a variety of foods, she realizes that she is tired of bread and jam…
Throughout the story, Frances sings a little made up song about bread and jam, and as the story progresses, her song changes, indicating her altering feelings about her affinity for bread and jam. Eventually, at the sight of her plate of bread and jam, she begins to cry as her family enjoys a delicious spaghetti dinner, and she sings a sad little song about being tired of jam.
Each scene in this story is vividly and beautifully written, making the story especially appealing to young children. When her schoolmate Albert prepares to eat of his lunch consisting of a cream-cheese-and-tomato sandwich on rye, a pickle, a hardboiled egg with a little cardboard salt shaker, grapes, a tangerine, custard, and milk; we can sympathize with her as she watches him enjoy his lunch, while all she has is bread and jam.
Originally published in 1964, Bread and Jam for Frances approaches the common childhood issue of trying new foods in such an appealing and humorous way, it has been a family favorite of ours for many years.