Fancy Nancy: The Dazzling Book Report

The easy readers I'm reviewing today fall into another category; picture book to easy reader. Both follow up on popular and well-loved picture books.

Fancy Nancy is a hugely popular series, encompassing picture books, easy readers, and a variety of "novelty" books (I recommend the Fancy Nancy Tea Parties for libraries - cover the detachable cards with clear contact and it circs like crazy with no damages!)

Although in general I am somewhat blah about fancy/princesss/pink books, I do really like Fancy Nancy. I love her elaborate words and the way she enjoys ordinary things. I also love how ordinary her family is; fancy does not equal wealthy! Also, I appreciate the way Fancy Nancy's parents let her express herself in her own inimitable show more style. I hadn't thought about this until someone (I don't remember who) at my library commented on how weird/cool/fun it was that her parents let her wear what she wanted. Blink. It's times like these I appreciate my own childhood. Thanks Mom.

So, how does Fancy Nancy translate from picture book to easy reader? Fantastically! Most of the Fancy Nancy easy readers deal with the world outside home, specifically school. Sometimes being fancy is wonderful; but sometimes it gets in the way, as in this story. Fancy Nancy is delighted about doing a book report; she is an excellent reader and she is going to have the most beautiful binder in the whole class. Unfortunately, she gets carried away with decoration and doesn't get to the actual report part. What will she do when she has to present her report? Will her teacher, Mrs. Glass, understand?

The interior illustrations are drawn by Ted Enik, but he has carefully imitated Robin Preiss Glasser's curly and exuberant style. And come on, who doesn't want that marvelous book chair on the cover?

Verdict: Kids who loved Fancy Nancy and are read to read on their own will enjoy this series, as will emerging readers who like realistic stories about kids and school.

ISBN: 978-0061703690; Published March 2009 by HarperCollins; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library show less

I read the original Fancy Nancy book to my nieces, and, at the time, thought that the effect of Nancy stopping every other word to explain that "That's a fancy word for so-and-so" was a little annoying. Having now read several of the early readers, I can honestly say that it is MUCH less annoying when you're not the one reading the book aloud!

My niece (who is six and entering the first grade in a week!) found this book easy enough to read with only a little help from me. Help largely consisted of asking her to sound out a word a second time, asking her if the sentence "makes sense" the way she read it, or asking if she's SURE she saw a d (or b, or w) in that word. There were a few words I had to read *for* her, but not more than I'd show more expect from this style of book. However, it should be noted that she was one of the better readers in her kindergarten class.

The "fancy words" in this book range from the useful - biography, select - to the more fanciful - crestfallen, plume.

I'm a little surprised at how much Nancy's parents enable the "learning lesson" at the end. They don't just let her work on the cover to the exclusion of everything else (albeit with a few warning comments that she needs to leave time for the REPORT part of the report), they actively take her to the store to get the supplies for this. (Apparently beads + yarn + fringe = INDIAN.) And Nancy's teacher is also super-understanding - she tells Nancy to just tell them about the book, so far so good, but she doesn't tell her to make up her report that night. That strikes me as a little unrealistic.

I'm also concerned with some of the misconceptions shared in this book. Nancy repeats the line about Sacajawea being an "Indian princess", which she plainly wasn't. Nobody said that about her until a good 70 years after her death, in fact. As that's just about the only information we get about her in this book (which isn't about Sacajawea, so that's fair), it's a little disappointing that it's wrong.

I will also note that there are an awful lot of sentences on each page. This is a good book for kids in the later stage of "beginning readers", I think, not in the very early stage. show less

In this Fancy Nancy book, Nancy sets off to write a book report on Sacajawea. Nancy is very excited about creating a very detailed book cover. She spends the majority of time on that aspect of the book report and not writing the report. On the day of the report she has only a paragraph written. Luckily, her teacher Mrs. Glass, allows her to share her report orally from her memory. Nancy presents her report orally and finishes happy.

This book achieves a lot more than many easy readers. It gives students a little introduction to who Sacajawea was. It also shows what can happen when you procrastinate on a school project. Some of the words seem like they would be very challenging for a level 1 reader including biography, princess fringe, show more crestfallen and desperate. show less

This book features Fancy Nancy and her experience writing her first book report. Nancy gets so wrapped up in making the cover of her book report, an elaborate portrait of Sacajawea, that her book report ends up being only two sentences. She feels embarrassed when other students give lengthy reports on their books. Luckily Nancy's teacher, Ms. Glass, understands and lets Nancy orally share about her book. This story is an easy reader with eight "fancy" new words spread throughout. A list of the words and their definitions can be found at the end of the book. This book teaches children a good lesson about the importance of focusing on the assignment, not the fluff that is not required. Nancy was lucky that her teacher understood, but not show more all teachers are so lenient. I am a big fan of "Fancy Nancy" books and always enjoy how she teaches us new vocabulary words throughout the story. The illustrations are bright and cheerful and thoroughly illustrate the events of the story. show less

Early chapter book: Realistic Fiction
Age Appropriateness: primary
Media: Colored Pencil
Review: This book is about how Nancy had to write a book report on Sacajawea. Nancy spent so much time making the cover of her book report be pretty that when it came to actually writing about her person that she was doing for her book report that she was to tired to write any words.
Critique: This is a good early chapter realistic book because kids have to write book reports and they tend to focus on the detail like Nancy did and not the writing. What made it fiction was because she believes that she is outstandling fancy and transforms her book report into a real life book and acted like the book was real.

Energetic illustrations are paired with new vocabulary words in this easy to read transitional book for young readers. Fancy Nancy experiences a bout of writers block as she writes her first book report and must get creative to finish her project.

My favorite thing about this book is definietely the bright, fun illustrations. The story is also very engaging. I also really think it is great that the book has a glossary for some of the harder words in the story. Students reading this book would really enjoy how the definitions for some of the harder words are included on the pages and incorporated into the story.