A Bargain for Frances

A Bargain for Frances by Russell Hoban (Author), Lillian Hoban (Illustrator)

Frances is invited to a play tea party with her friend Thelma. Frances's mother reminds her to be careful because she often ends up on the bad end of thing when playing with Thelma. When there, Frances mentions to Thelma that she is saving to buy a real China tea set. Thelma claims that those are not made anymore and that the plastic one she has is better. She convinces Frances to use her money to buy the plastic one from her. Frances does, but then sees Thelma go to the store and use the money to buy the china tea set.

Frances hatches a plan to get the tea set back. She puts a penny in one of the pieces and tells Thelma there is money in it. Thema insists they swap tea sets. They do and Thelma finds it is just a penny. They decide to end the feud and be friends.

There is a somewhat confusing message that you should fight subterfuge with subterfuge. Kids do seem to like to book, even if it is a bit long.