Kids' Books on Wednesday

Children can be brutal, and you miss this if you're watching "Daniel Tiger." But Russell Hoban knew the truth. He didn't mince words.

In "Best Friends for Frances," Frances wants to play ball. Her sister, Gloria, asks to play, and Frances bluntly says, "You're too little." As Gloria cries, Frances sings a song: "Sisters that are much too small are really not much good at all -- except for crying." And Frances is our heroine!

Children can be brutal, but also, children can be resilient. For Gloria, a setback is merely a setback. Gloria knows how to catch frogs -- and this is a kind of social capital. Gloria will exchange her knowledge for a game of baseball.

It seems to me that Frances doesn't deserve Gloria. But Russell Hoban knows some things about karma, and it's quite satisfying when thoughtless Frances is coolly dismissed by her "friend" Albert. (Gloria rubs a little salt in a wound. "Wow," she says to her sister, in a disingenuous way. "You and Albert really played together very quickly....")

I wouldn't use this book as a way of teaching good manners. But it's far from boring. It's also a kind of introduction to the idea of "the love triangle." Hoban's wife Lillian drew the two plucky siblings (below).

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