from Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban, illustrated by his wife Lillian Hoban
I was saddened when reading about the death of one of children’s literature greats, Russell Hoban in the New York Times. The author will live on in his Frances books, which my children absolutely adored and which adults never tired of reading. Having grown up in a family of non-readers, I was first introduced to Hoban through his exquisite writing in The Mouse and His Child when took a children’s literature course in university. Hoban, who wrote more than 50 books for children (from tots to teens), went on to write for adults. Two of his better known books include: Turtle Diary (it was made into a movie of the same name) and his futuristic, critically acclaimed Riddley Walker which was once in the book pile on my bedside table, but which I never did get around to reading.
Sheryl McFarlane 