Review By JENNIFER GANNETT
Those familiar with the Fancy Nancy series know that Fancy Nancy is a girl with flair and enthusiasm. Although green is not her favorite color, she takes being green very seriously in Fancy Nancy: Every Day is Earth Day. When her class discusses some basics about living green and taking the health of the planet into considation when making daily decisions, she is activated to help her family implement some of these strategies.
It doesn’t go well. Fancy Nancy manages to really, REALLY annoy her parents with her (seemingly) overzealous attitude. From disrupting the household in the middle of the night because she’s turned her sister’s nightlight off to saving energy by turning her mom’s laptop off which causes her mom to lose her work (gulp!), her enthusiasm for greening her family’s everyday life is irritating (fancy for mad) her parents.
Lessons are learned on both sides of the equation. I had mixed feelings about Fancy Nancy’s parents telling her that she had to be more flexible, but the portrayal of an overenthusiastic girl who is trying to get others to implement solutions to the problems that she sees hit close to home. Vegetarians, vegans and environmentalists know that in order to have reasoned discussions about the many issues that these subjects engender, it is important to meet people where they are. Preferably over a candlelight dinner using cloth napkins and lots of veggies– just like Fancy Nancy’s family ends up doing.
You can preview portions of this book here; I especially like Fancy Nancy’s bike, complete with her doll tied on to her banana seat.
A beginning reading book suitable for ages 4 and up.
A Note from Us at Vegbooks: We hope you’ve enjoyed our reviews focusing on environmental issues in celebration of EE Week. We’d like to thank all of you for supporting us and send you our best wishes on Earth Day, and every day. We are grateful for all *you* do to help the planet and all of the animals on it.
Homa // Apr 22, 2012 at 8:33 am
Another great Fancy Nancy book is Stellar Stargazer, I agree with your take on this one. Great review, I loved your “fancy for mad” reference. We have read all the FN books many times over at our house, I like her a lot more than, say, the girl in “Pinkalucious.” Nancy is a sweet girl at heart, even when her enthusiasm gets her in trouble. Plus, her mom kind of looks like me. 🙂
Homa // Apr 22, 2012 at 8:35 am
Correction: Pinkalicious, should go find my glasses!
Jessica // Apr 22, 2012 at 9:00 am
I like Fancy Nancy more than Pinkalicious too — she seems to have a little more depth. But I do like the illustrations/graphics in both! Kiddo is done with a softcover book in the Pink series that’s not nice enough to re-home, and with all the great patterns and funky objects in the illustrations, I think we may need to use it in a craft project rather than straight-out recycle it.