Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor

This handsome hard-covered children’s book caught my eye in the store, as my own four year-old daughter dearly loves to be fancy.

The cover blurbs celebrated the creation of a fabulous little heroine with a breathtaking sense of style… but when I actually read the book, I tossed it aside in disgust. In the end, Fancy Nancy is a celebration of conformity and squashing a little girl’s spirit.

Nancy is a little girl who dearly loves to talk, dress, and act “fancy.” Why ask for an ice cream sundae when you can order a parfait? Why wear regular clothes when you could go out in a boa, crown, sunglasses, and tutu?

Nancy’s family, however, is quite plain, and Nancy hopes to change that. She posts a sign on the fridge: “Learn to be fancy with Lessons from Nancy. ” But by the end of the book, Nancy comes to see the error of her fancy ways and is happy to be home in a plain bathrobe. “I don’t feel fancy any more,” she says sadly.

My own little girl will be attacked by the forces of conformity and peer pressure soon enough when she goes to school. For now, I’m happy to indulge her passion for being fancy, and I hope no one ever reads this book to her.

It’s a shame that Robin Preiss Glasser’s beautiful illustrations were used in such a depressing tale.