Fancy Nancy

 

Book: Fancy Nancy 

Author: Jane O' Connor 

Illustrator: Robin Preiss Glasser 

Genre: Realistic Fiction 

Awards: Young Reader's Choice Award 

Age Group: Pre-k - 3

Summary: 

Nancy likes being fancy! Her favorite color is fuchsia- the fancy way of saying purple, she writes with a pen that has a plume-the fancy way of saying feather, but nobody in her family is fancy like her. So she decides to teach her family to be fancy. She gets some accessories, dresses them up, and then they all go to dinner dressed up and extra fancy. For dessert, they get parfaits, that being French for ice-cream sundaes. She carries the tray like a fancy waiter but trips, slips, and spills the tray all over herself. She didn't feel fancy anymore and wanted to go home. She gets cleaned up and thanks her family for being fancy with her. As her parents tell her they love her, she replies back that she loves them too because there isn't a fancy or better way of saying that. 

Evaluation and Comments: 

Who doesn't love Fancy Nancy?! Nancy is a little girl who just loves everything fancy, from her room, clothes, and the way she talks. It's the way she expresses herself and when she sees that nobody in her family is fancy, she decides to give them lessons so they can be just as fancy as her.  

I remember being in elementary school and having this book be read to me. My librarian would even dress up just like Nancy and would walk around school pretending to be just like her. With that, this book brings very fond memories and because of that, I would definitely have this book in my own class and allow my students to enjoy this book as much as I did. I know that many of the younger children will gravitate towards Nancy and relate to her passion and determination of wanting to be fancy (a thing that makes her happy and allows her to express herself). 

An activity students can do is have them discuss how Nancy uses fanciness as a form of self-expression and then you can ask them what they do to express themselves (is it through clothes, drawing, actions, etc.). Once they do this, have them create self-portraits of themselves in a way that reflects their personality. This book is also a great opportunity to teach students some French words (since the book mentions a few) and have them compare it to the English counterpart. 

In conclusion, Fancy Nancy has my seal of approval! 🥇😄