Frances and Millie Play in the Snow
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Frances and Millie
Play in the Snow
(excert from pages 1-7)
Millie sat up in her sleeping bag. Her friend Frances had spent the night, and they had slept on the basement floor. That is, they finally got to sleep after talking and eating popcorn. The left-over popcorn looked stale this morning.
Millie checked and saw that Frances was still sleeping. After getting dressed, Millie climbed the stairs to the kitchen to see if her mother was already awake. Mom was already busy in the kitchen.
Looking outside, Millie asked excitedly, "Mom, did you see that it snowed last night?
"Since Frances stayed overnight, can we play outside this morning?
“Oh, and can we make a snowman? I drew one yesterday, so she would know what we could do if it snowed."
"Sure," said her mother, "but why don't you go and see if she is awake? And you could tell her it is OK to get dressed. Then you and Frances can have breakfast before we go outside."
“OK, I’m going,” replied Mille.
“I’m taking my snowman picture with me.”
After both girls came upstairs, Millie started asking questions.
"OK, Mom. Can we eat cereal this morning? We can do that faster than waiting for you to fry eggs or to cook oatmeal."
Millie's mother chuckled. "Yes, the boxes of cereal are here. Show Frances what kinds we have.”
As they ate breakfast, Millie asked, "So, Frances, what do you eat for breakfast in Kenya?"
"Oh, we have cereal like this, but some of the names are different. At least that is how it is in Nairobi where my family lives. We also have eggs sometimes."
Millie wanted to know more. "How about in the villages? Do they eat anything for breakfast that I don't know about?"
"Yes," said Frances. " When I visit my grandmother two hours away from Nairobi, she gives me uji and often scrambled eggs along with it, but sometimes we just put dried fruit or nuts and sugar on the uji."
"What's uji?"
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About the Book
Bowman places his two young friends, one from Kenya and the other from the United States, in a sleep-over one night. The girls wake up in the morning and discover there was a snowstorm overnight. They eat breakfast and talk about what breakfast is like in each country. Then out into the snow they go. They cope with a large snowball rolling off the snowman they are making. And two children playing together will have some tensions to work at creatively, sometimes with adult help. Children naturally enjoy playing, living, and learning cross-culturally when families and society allow them that freedom. Young school-age children will enjoy Bowman’s story and cartoon-like illustrations.
About the Author
Richard Bowman and his wife, Elsie, have four adult children and ten grandchildren. He has enjoyed the many opportunities this has given him to read and illustrate and tell stories to kids. As a retired teacher (professor of physics) and Christian minister, Dr. Bowman is enlivened by interacting with children as they learn about how the natural world works but also how humans should interact in respectful, caring ways. During their more than 50 years of marriage, he and his wife have often crossed cultural lines set up by society. They lived and worked for three years in Belize and for two and a half years in Albania. In the United States they interacted with international students and worked alongside immigrants who came into the US. He continues to learn much from his interactions with persons from other cultures—their food, languages, and humor.