A shy, barely five-year-old girl arrived at school carrying a big box of crayons "with the points still on." One of her classmates offered to swap them for her set of markers and the proud crayon owner agreed, only to discover that most of the markers were completely dried up. After some tears and considerable negotiation, their teacher set things right.
At story time that day, she shared the picture book classic A Bargain for Frances, by Russell Hoban (HarperCollins, 1978). Although the characters in the story are badgers, and the bad-trade item was a broken tea set, the message about fair play was not missed by the children. They criticized the tricky character in the book for being "mean," "sneaky," "not nice," and "a cheater." The book was instrumental in teaching a subtle yet significant life lesson to the entire class.
