Frances, a young badger, lives a comfortable life with her friends and family. Her story began with the 1960 book Bedtime for Frances, written by Russell Hoban and illustrated by Garth Williams. From there, it spun off into a beloved children's book series about Frances' adventures and misadventures as she tackles the life of a small child. All the books after the first one were illustrated by Russell Hoban's wife, Lillian Hoban.
A brief digital puppetry series based on the franchise, titled simply Frances, was released by the Jim Henson Company and HIT Entertainment from 2005-2006.
This series includes examples of the following tropes:
- Bad Ol' Badger: Averted for the most part. Frances has a largely sweet, whimsical personality and her parents are loving. Thelma has been known to give Frances the short end of the stick, but at worst, she's more sly than aggressive, and the situation improves after Frances turns the tables.
- "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The theme song to the animated show is sung by Frances and her family.
- Framing Device: Each episode is framed on Frances and Gloria having a little skit together, and Frances then talking to the viewer about an experience she once had.
- "Getting Ready for Bed" Plot: Bedtime for Frances, where Frances can't sleep because her imagination keeps running away with her and picturing scary things.
- Good Parents: Frances's parents are kind, loving, and always find clever ways to deal with their daughter's quirky moods.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Frances and her sister Gloria usually wear no clothes, but they wear dresses to school and on special occasions. Likewise, Frances's best friend Albert wears pants (yet no shirt) to school, but nothing outside of school. Meanwhile, Father never wears clothes, but Mother usually wears a dress, or sometimes a skirt with no blouse.
- Here We Go Again!: In the episode, "A Whiny Sister for Frances", Gloria becomes sick with the flu, and Frances is upset as her parents are too tired from taking care of Gloria to do anything with her. In the end, when Gloria finally recovers, Frances gets sick.
- Hypocrite: When Thelma realizes that Frances put a penny in the sugar bowl of her old tea set as part of a ruse, she criticizes her for playing such a trick on a friend. Frances points out it wasn't a very nice trick Thelma played on her to talk her into buying Thelma's cheap plastic tea set.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The books, beginning with the first, follow the formula X for Frances.
- Infant Sibling Jealousy:
- In A Baby Sister for Frances, Frances is annoyed that baby Gloria is taking up her parents' attention, so she decides to run away. She only goes as far as the kitchen table, though, and she decides to "come home" after her parents purposefully have an Easily-Overheard Conversation about how much they miss her and how much Gloria will miss having a big sister.
- When Gloria is preschool aged and has a birthday in A Birthday for Frances, Frances is jealous that it isn't her own birthday and of the presents Gloria is going to get, including the Chompo candy bar she buys for her. She almost gives in to the temptation to eat the bar herself, but in the end gives it to Gloria after all.
- Ironic Echo: When Thelma talks Frances into buying her plastic tea set instead of trying to find one of the china ones she wants, she warns her that there will be "no backsies." Later, while Frances messes with Thelma by suggesting that she left something valuable in the tea set when she sold it to her, she repeats that she doesn't have to tell her what is in the sugar bowl because Thelma declared "no backsies."
- Manipulative Bitch: In A Bargain for Frances, Frances talks about saving her allowance to buy a fancy china tea set. Thelma tricks her into buying her cheap plastic tea set instead, and then goes and buys a china tea set for herself with the money Frances gave her.
- Mistaken for Insane: In the Animated Adaptation episode A Whiny Sister for Frances, Gloria's somewhat out-of-it due to her stomach flu, and Frances briefly wonders if Gloria has lost her mind before her father clarifies what's wrong with her.
- Ode to Food: In Bread and Jam for Frances, Frances sings several little songs about how much she likes bread and jam. This changes when she wearies of it after getting only that every mealtime.
- Picky Eater: Frances initially refuses to eat anything but bread and jam. Her parents' solution is to feed her that and only that until she gets sick of it and finally wants to try other foods.
- Radish Cure: In Bread and Jam for Frances, Frances only wants to eat bread and jam and is unwilling to try any other foods. Her parents decide to give her bread and jam for every meal, and while she's happy about it at first, she eventually gets tired of it and asks to try some spaghetti at one meal. The story ends with her bringing a lunch to school that consists of a wide variety of foods, with no jam to speak of.
- Scary Shadow Fakeout: In Bedtime for Frances, Frances sees a large, dark shape in the corner and thinks it's a hostile giant. When she asks it what it wants, it turns out to be a robe draped over a chair.
- Title Theme Tune: I am Frances! (She's Frances!) Hooray, hooray for me!
- To the Tune of...: Every song in the Animated Adaptation is based off a classical tune. For example, the theme song is sung to the tune of Handel Messiah's Hallelujah.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Frances loves bread and jam, and in Bread and Jam Frances she wants no other food until her parents' Radish Cure teaches her to enjoy other things. She also likes her oatmeal with raisins, not with any other topping – in A Baby Sister for Frances, having to eat oatmeal with banana slices instead because Mother was too busy with the baby to buy raisins is the last straw that makes her decide to run away.
- With Friends Like These...: In A Bargain for Frances, Frances' mother warns her to take care when she says she's going to play with Thelma, because she always winds up worse off for it.
