Do you remember Frances?
For me, memories of the charming little badger girl who starred in Russell and Lillian Hoban’s picture books are intertwined with some of my happiest early recollections of visits to my local public library.
Hoban’s Frances books, written between 1960 and 1970, are surprisingly full of good food. But Frances has a fondness, in particular, for jam that in American literature for young children pales, perhaps, only in comparison to Nate the Great’s legendary love of pancakes.
This week, in a tribute to Frances that manages to squeeze in a little science (and, it goes without saying, plenty of cooking), I offer my favorite easy recipe for strawberry-rhubarb jam. Along with it, I include a simple coffee cake that nicely uses up the leftovers once your kids get tired, as even Frances herself once did, of eating nothing but bread and jam.
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