Fancy Nancy and the Late, Late, LATE Night

• About the Book

Fancy Nancy and the Late, Late, LATE Night

by Jane O'Connor

Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser (cover) 

and Carolyn Bracken (interior)
HarperFestival
Copyright 2010

In my quest to find a relatively inexpensive, teachable book, I give you Fancy Nancy and the Late, Late, LATE Night.  Nancy is an elementary-aged, spunky redhead with a imaginative personality and creative style (she wears flowers in her hair, flowers everywhere).  Illustrators Robin Preiss Glasser and Carolyn Bracken's detailed pictures are a feast for young eyes and will undoubtedly bring Nancy's world off the pages of this picture book and right into the imaginations of its readers.  Nancy is by all means, a girly-girl, which will appeal to girly-girl readers, however, it is the humor in Nancy's voice that author Jane O'Connor creates that will likely interest more than just one type of girl.

In this charming, witty, and clever story geared toward girls ages 3-7, Nancy is captivated by her equally fancy and girly neighbor, Mrs. Devine, and her life as a child living in Hollywood.  Mrs. Devine keeps a scrapbook of celebrity autographs which she gives Nancy special permission to take it home with her for one night.  Unfortunately, it is bedtime before Nancy even has a chance to investigate the scrapbook.  Against the instruction of her parents, and regardless of the spelling test she has the next day, Nancy sneaks the scrapbook under her covers and stays up way past bedtime to look at it.  The next day at school, Nancy is too tired to concentrate on her spelling test and makes many careless errors.  She returns the scrapbook to Mrs. Devine and realizes the consequences of her choices.  Nancy now knows that a good night's sleep is what is important to not have such a "terrible and exhausting day."

• I Spy from a Counseling/Educational Perspective: Vocabulary Development & Making Right Choices

There are two key highlights in Late, Late, LATE Night that I find appealing for young readers and listeners.  The first is that O'Connor utilizes Nancy's unique style and personality to introduce a broader vocabulary for children.  Nancy is constantly injecting French into her conversations and using "fancier" words.

Under the covers, I have concealed -
that's fancy for hidden -
a flashlight and a scrapbook.

On Saturday I wake up feeling glorious again.
(Glorious is fancy for wonderful.)

The second highlight is that the storyline includes a simple lesson about making right choices.  Children learn that Nancy's choice to not follow her parents rules by staying up late had the consequences of being tired, doing poorly on a spelling test, and not having fun at school.  It is important to start talking about and working with children on decision-making skills at a young age.  Initially, children in Pre-K-3 learn about choices and consequences through such areas as the following and breaking of rules, social behavior, and working in groups.  As children mature and become more independent, they can begin to predict what the outcomes of certain choices may be.  Older elementary-aged children (8-10) begin to think outside of themselves and begin to consider questions like:

1. What will my parents and people I respect say about my choice?
2. Will my choice hurt anyone, including myself?
3. What do my heart and conscience tell me?
4. How will I feel about myself later?

The staying-up-too-late lesson in Nancy's story is a stepping stone for discussion with children on the topic of making right choices.

O'Connor and Glasser's Fancy Nancy series is already a major hit among many young readers and their parents.  However, this 2010 release is the first Fancy Nancy book that have I have picked up and read, and it sparks my interest to read more.

• I Spy, More!

• The Fancy Nancy Books website - includes a fun application to "Become a Poet Extraordinaire: Create Your Own Word Lib" - a game of choosing nouns, plural nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
• Fancy Nancy's Read Together Activities (pdf) - includes a "fill-in-the-blank" creative vocabulary activity!
• The 3 R's of Growing Up Lesson for grades 5-9 (I have introduced the "Choose to Do the Right Thing" guidelines in 4th grade)

• { just a thought }

Children's books can be expensive!  For a family on a budget, it's hard to rationalize spending sixteen dollars on a book that your son or daughter seems to be drawn to in the store, but not so enthused with at home.  I find myself in book stores with my young daughter just struggling to look through the selections thoroughly due to the alternating levels of her patience barometer. Have you ever picked out a book, browsed it, purchased it, and got home to find that its catchy, captivating title didn't reflect its content?  That's me!  There is so much out there in the world of kid lit (the good, the bad, and the ugly), but sometimes the quantity of choices can be dizzying.  Word of mouth and reading blogs are great ways to learn about the books your child may choose to read over and over again.  After reviewing books for such a short time, I value the existence of school and local libraries so much more, as well as the ability to conduct online research in order to explore and discover the books that I want to invest in.