Jane Eayre Fryer wrote the six Mary Frances books in the early 1900’s. They have recently been put back in print and we are very glad—they are some of our favorite books! In each book, a little girl named Mary Frances meets “people” who help her learn sewing, cooking, gardening, first aid, housekeeping, or knitting and crocheting. For example, in the Knitting and Crocheting book Mary Frances’ crochet hook, knitting needles, yarn and a few others come alive and teach her to crochet and knit.

Another great thing about these books is that they’re not just stories, they’re “interactive”. For instance, in the sewing book, there are patterns for doll clothes you can make, and the housekeeping one has paper dolls. All of them have complete instructions on how to do almost every thing Mary Frances learns to do.

I enjoy reading the books aloud to my sisters. We don’t read ahead until we finish the project we’re working on, so as to help them stay motivated. Moriah (who is 8) made a drawstring bag, a doll’s scarf, shawl, apron, nightgown and robe, and Bethany (almost 6) made 3 drawstring bags and is eager to make more things.

I highly recommend these books!

The picture above is of me and Tiffany, one of the McDonald sisters, at the state homeschool conference last month where we bought some Mary Frances books. We told her how much we enjoyed her mom’s book Raising Maidens of Virtue. It was so fun to meet the “maidens” :)