The big hand of the clock is at 12. The little hand is at 7

[sovay]

Why did I not know until after he died that Russell Hoban of Riddley Walker (1980) also wrote Bedtime for Frances (1960) and Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas (1971)? I read the latter as a very small child and the former in college; I never put the names together. I was prepared to miss a luminary of science fiction and now I'm grieving for a small pencil-drawn badger.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

My favorite was Bread and Jam for Frances, though I was partial to A Baby Sister for Frances, too.

The incredibly fancy lunch Frances makes for herself once she's embraced a gustatory world beyond jam appealed to me tremendously. I wanted to take a doily and a vase of violets to lunch, too.

[snowy-owlet.livejournal.com]

I still want to pack a doily and tiny cardboard containers of salt and pepper with my lunch. (Inner voice: so what's stopping you?)

It's a shame that the Muppet adaptation of Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas doesn't get much airplay anymore. It was one of the very sweetest of the Christmas specials. Plus, you know, the concept of being paid in mashed potatoes.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I only put it together a few years ago that the Emmett Otter author was the same as the Frances author, and that was a really pleasant surprise.

The Muppet adaptation may yet make a come-back, as they've been doing a live theater version of it up at the Goodspeed Playhouse in CT. I don't know that they'll mount it again, but it was awesome, and I hope other theater companies pick it up.

My sister adored the Frances books growing up, and went so far as to go on a bread and jam eating craze for months at a time, leading my parents to despair that she would ever eat anything else. My favorite was always Harvey's Hideout, with its sibling rivalry aspect and hidden clubhouses. A full list of Hoban's children's books is here. There are a remarkable number I've never even heard of. I hope someone omnibuses them in the future.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I forgot to say that in our household, ice cream was frequently, though not universally referred to 'QPM' after France's attempt to spell it in, I think, A Birthday For Frances, which also had the memorable sequence about the Chompo bar.

Oh look! Someone came up with a recipe. :)

a recipe for a chompo bar

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Excellent!

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the list link! I had no idea about Frances et alia, only Riddley.

[moon-custafer.livejournal.com]

I barely remembered it until the CBC (I think) reran it a few seasons ago, but my mom went on for years about how much she'd loved that Christmas special.

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

We've been reading them to Peter, and I think MY favorite is "Best Friends for Frances", which contains even MORE detailed descriptions of picnics.

[It also made my mind want to write Frances FanFic. That is Not Right.]

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Frances fanfic with illustrations like his would be great :D

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

Illustrations of the fic I'm imagining would be...dangerously imaginable, actually.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

My favorite was also Bread and Jam for Frances. So adorable! The wee salt shaker!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I *made* those for my kids for lunch.

Well no. Not really. But I made little envelopes of salt to take in with boiled eggs. (Because they would surely never find salt in the cafeteria? Yeah....)

[genarti]

Me too. I'm nowhere near so organized enough to ever do it, but I think Frances shaped my secret heart's vision of an ideal packed lunch.