Bread and Jam for Frances Paperback – Illustrated, October 20, 2015

This book was a required book for my daughter at school. This week the class began to read it and she noticed that her words were not matching up with her teacher's or classmates' books. My wife and I then found in fine print inside the book that this was an abridged version. Who does this to a children's book!? At least they could have had the decency to point it out somewhere. Nobody asked for an abridged version.

My children love this book! (Girls aged 2,4, and 6). We have read a few of the Frances stories, but this seems to be a favorite. Picky eater Frances is given the opportunity to eat her favorite foods--bread and jam--for every meal. Of course, she discovers this to be monotonous and the story concludes with her eating with relish whatever her mother prepares. Simple story, pleasant illustrations, wholesome message.We had originally checked this out from the library from their early reader section (as it says here on the product listing: I Can Read Book 2). However, this book turned out to be a different edition. It doesn't appear to be an I Can Read book at all, but instead is larger and quite a bit longer. This edition has a more complex vocabulary, including words such as "doily" that aren't included in the I Can Read edition. This is fine for us, but you might want to make sure you are getting the edition you want. (Attached photo shows absence of "I Can Read" logo.)

This was one of my favorite books when I was young, and I was happy to read the library's copy to my little ones. However, when I purchased this version on Amazon, it was not the same - they left out sentences here and there which, after reading the library's copy over and over and over, were sorely missed.If you've never read this book before, this version may be ok. However, I'd recommend sticking with the original, unabridged edition. It's not much longer (maybe 1 or 2 pages total?) but is better with all the original text.Another good one about picky eaters is the D.W. the Picky Eater in the Arthur series.

I have not passed this on to the child I bought it for - it is simply not interesting enough although I liked the concept and appreciated that the parent figures were not overtly judgmental but simply allowed Frances to work her way out of her unhealthy fixation. Not enough meat on the bone here.

I bought this for my daughter since she's just at the right reading level for this series, and enjoyed "A Bargain for Francis" when we found it at our library. This is a great book for teaching kids the value of eating a variety of different things, while couching it in believable terms as Francis comes across as a perfectly convincing 6- or 7-year-old. The illustrations are charming and the amount of text per page is just right for an early reader.

I love this book! It’s such a cute story. We have a picky eater in our house, so this is a great story to help reinforce trying new things to eat.The print is large, which is great for using to help little ones learn to read. There are repetitive words used and some rhymes.This particular book is paperback, so it may not last terribly long with young children handling it over and over. Other than that, it’s a great book that I would highly recommend.

I have loved Frances for many, many years, and this is the book I love to give to children. It's popular now to ask for a kids' book rather than a card at a baby shower, so this is the one. It's just a delightful story, and I loved it so much as a child myself that it's a pleasure to introduce a new generation to Frances.

We used to read and reread this book to our children, who love Frances. (One of our grands is named Frances.) All of the Frances books encourage empathy in a child, and are very entertaining. We enjoy the poetic songs that Frances sings to herself.Our 4 year old grandson was inspired to eat a more varied diet after reading B & J for Frances. He now tries to take a bite of each item on his plate, making it all "come out even" as Albert does when he eats lunch with Frances at school.

Frances the cheeky raccoon is such a picky eater that she won't touch anything but bread and jam. Her wise and loving mother solves the problem by serving her nothing else for breakfast, dinner and tea while the others enjoy all kinds of delicious foods. Finally she feels she is missing out, and of her own volition, starts to try - and enjoy - a more varied diet. Garth Williams' charming illustrations perfectly complement the lively little raccoon's personality. All little girls will relate to her as her character and little songs and thoughts are perfectly on their level. Beginning readers will find they want to read right to the end of the book to find out what happens in the end. An excellent story, as are all the Frances books.

This is a family favourite going back two generations I ordered it delivered to my grand-daughters and they find it an endless source of joy. When my daughter was tiny, this was our go-to book to get her to try new foods.

Lovely book, read this when I was little, so great to look at again! Lovely story.

Good

These books are suitable for three of my great grandchildren.