Russell Hoban

When things change around the house after her baby sister is born, Frances decides to run away--but not too far.

"Emmet Otter and his mother enter the local talent contest in the hopes of winning the cash prize and being able to buy each other a Christmas present."--

Riddley Walker is a brilliant, unique, completely realized work of fiction. One reads it again and again, discovering new wonders every time through. Set in a remote future in a post-nuclear holocaust England (Inland), Hoban has imagined a humanity regressed to an iron-age, semi-literate state, and invented a language to represent it. Riddley is at once the Huck Finn and the Stephen Dedalus of his culture: rebel, change agent, and artist. Read this...

Frances decides she likes to eat only bread and jam at every meal--until to her surprise--her parents grant her wish.

In Frogtown Hollow live Emmet and Ma Otter, a family with little money but lots of love. With Christmas coming, they want very much to buy each other a store-bought gift, but are barely scraping by doing odd jobs. When a local talent contest offers a special prize. Emmet must make a sacrifice to join his jug band for the competition. Will the jug band prevail or will fierce competition from the Riverbottom Gang steal the show - and the prize?