Fancy Nancy

notice, readers, that the title is uncharacteristically capitalized. i save that distinction for only the really important things in life, and Fancy Nancy has earned that honor. much respect to the author jane o'connor and illustrator robin preiss glasser.

for those without the privilege of an introduction to Nancy yet, allow me to elucidate: Fancy Nancy is a children's book about a girl (named nancy, if you hadn't guessed) who wants everything to be...you guessed it, fancy. my daughters, 4 and 3, absolutely love this book. in fact, i'm pretty sure that nancy and noe are soul mates or, at the very least, best friends. as much as a fictional girl and her reader can be best friends.... anyway, for those who don't know this about me, i usually have...issues, we'll say, with characters in my children's books. or movies. or in books and movies in general, i guess. they are usually selfish, stupid, disrespectful, weak, unrealistic, or just plain annoying. but don't judge this book by its cover. literally. because reading about a young girl who walks around acting french all the time was not exactly high on my list of good reads for my kids. i have trouble enough already getting my oldest to wear anything other than her play dress-up clothes (which are not school, church, grocery store, or playground appropriate), so giving her a character to relate to who is even more extreme gave me a headache. but a friend got the book for her for her birthday with the assurance that it was a great book and that i would not have any trouble reading it to her over and over again. and that is what we have done. over and over and over and over and over again. any time my kids want to read Fancy Nancy, the answer is yes. and why? because of the wonderful story? the character development? the beautiful lesson or moral of the story? nah. i mean, it's alright, but let's not get that carried away. no, ladies and gentlemen, this book is a simple read with rather one dimensional peeps. it is a children's book, after all.

Fancy Nancy, however, does offer two very important things: vocabulary and creative problem solving. nancy loves big words, so she tries to find one for everything. example: she writes her name with a pen with a plume (that's a fancy word for feather), and her idea is stupendous (that's a fancy word for great), and she dresses her family up to look posh (that's a fancy word for fancy). it's refreshing to have a book that makes vocabulary fun for my kids and encourages them to use their spoken language the correct way. synonyms are wonderful tools for kids and will help them throughout their life, though most in writing of essays or trying to vocalize their thoughts effectively. i dream of the day when the teenagers of america learn to use something other than vulgar and base language, find some other way of vocalizing than cussing. personally, i think that kind of language makes the one using it sound asinine or cretinous (those are fancy words for stupid). my daughter asked santa for a pen with a plume for christmas. i know adults who aren't sure what that is. sad, but true. i am hoping that this book, which is now a series, will inspire the rising generation to speak more intelligently and be able to express their ideas and feelings more coherently. i certainly expect my kids to do so, and nancy is totally on board. she's the next jane austin!


as for the problem solving, it's a bit simplistic, but definitely something to build on. nancy, while making everything fancy, does so with things she has around the house rather than getting them from the store. for example: her bed started as a simple twin sized bed. she built a canopy for it using a broom, mop, sheets, ribbon, and i don't know what else. genius! she uses gift bows on her shoes or in her hair to make them fancy. she uses scarves and stickers and anything else she can find to decorate herself, her room, her notebooks, and her family. it's great. and my kids notice that it's stuff that they, too, can use. we've made hair bows out of scraps of tulle. we've decorated shoes that they thought were too plain. we've made fancy nancy skirts. when they find something that, before, had no real value to them, they think of ways to use it like nancy did. granted, it's only for decorating purposes now, but someday they could expand that to other problems and be able to solve them by thinking outside the proverbial box.

perhaps i am expecting too much from one children's book. and, of course, retailers have gone against what fancy nancy is all about and have started selling her shoes and skirts and bedroom set and whatever else for rather high prices. but the idea and the foundation is there for parents to build their little darlings on. now, i have to go get the girls ready for their fancy nancy tea party.