Series to Know: Fancy Nancy

Series Info

The first five Fancy Nancy readers!

The first five Fancy Nancy readers!

Books:

  1. Fancy Nancy and the Boy from Paris (2008)
  2. Fancy Nancy at the Museum (2008)
  3. Fancy Nancy Sees Stars (2008)
  4. Fancy Nancy, Poison Ivy Expert (2008)
  5. Fancy Nancy and the Dazzling Book Report (2009)
  6. Fancy Nancy: The Show Must Go On (2009)
  7. Fancy Nancy: Pajama Day! (2009)
  8. Fancy Nancy and the 100th Day of School (2009)
  9. Fancy Nancy: Every Day is Earth Day (2010)
  10. Fancy Nancy: Spectacular Spectacles (2010)
  11. Fancy Nancy and the Delectable Cupcakes (2010)
  12. Fancy Nancy: My Family History (2010)
  13. Fancy Nancy, Splendid Speller (2011)
  14. Fancy Nancy and the Mean Girl (2011)
  15. Fancy Nancy: Hair Dos and Hair Don’ts (2011)
  16. Fancy Nancy and the Too-Loose Tooth (2012)
  17. Fancy Nancy: Fancy Day in Room 1-A (2012)
  18. Fancy Nancy: Too Many Tutus (2012)
  19. Fancy Nancy: Apples Galore (2013)
  20. Fancy Nancy: Just My Luck! (2013)
  21. Fancy Nancy: Peanut Butter and Jellyfish (2015)
  22. Fancy Nancy: Super Secret Surprise Party (2015)

Links: Fancy Nancy World || Page on “I Can Read” || Event Kits & Printables

Reviews: Horn Book & School Library Journal

Difficulty

Fancy Nancy is a Level One: Beginning Reading in the I Can Read brand. Level One is described as “Simple sentences for eager new readers.” Fancy Nancy books do have simple sentences, but they also have higher difficulty words and more sentences per page than other “level one” readers. (This is, of course, because the I Can Read brand also has two lower levels than Level One.)

All of Nancy’s new “fancy words” are included in a glossary with simple definitions. And all of the words are defined in the text with various takes on Nancy’s traditional: “That’s a fancy word for…”

“Your glasses are most becoming,” Ms. Glass says. That’s a fancy word I have never heard before. Ms. Glass says it means pretty.” Fancy Nancy and the Spectacular Spectacles

Most of the words will be challenging for beginning readers. I only took real offensive with the word “diorama” in Fancy Nancy: Peanut Butter and Jellyfish as being unnecessary. Although, Fancy Nancy fans expect to learn some new vocabulary in each book.

As for more sentences, Fancy Nancy and the Boy from Paris averages 4.15 sentences per page. When compared with other Level One brands: Pancakes, Pancakes from Ready to Read averages 1.95 sentences per page and Ice Cream Soup from Penguin Young Readers averages 2.09. Even even compared to another I Can Read Level One book: Pinkalicious Cherry Blossom has 3.59 sentences per page.

I only figured out unique words for one Fancy Nancy book: Fancy Nancy: Peanut Butter and Jellyfish. (Seriously, it was nearly an hour of work!) It has 278 unique words, which is a LOT for a beginning reader.

And for leveling: 329L for Lexile score (discounting the two Adult-Directed books) and 2.2AR for Accelerated Reader. Interestingly enough, beginning with Fancy Nancy: Too Many Tutus HarperCollins has included the Guided Reading levels (Fountas and Pinnell) on the back of the books. Too Many Tutus was level K while the rest are at level J (Just My Luck!, Apples Galore!, Peanut Butter and Jellyfish, and Super Secret Surprise Party).

Thoughts

Fancy Nancy is a solid beginning reader series for more advanced and confident readers. With more sentences, higher unique word counts, and the French pronunciations that occasionally appear, I would definitely recommend this to first graders and above.

Perfect for kids who love all things fancy but have exhausted the more traditional princess books, Nancy has so much more than just fanciness. She faces real-life challenges like holidays and events, friends and family problems, and fears/worries. I also love that she teaches new and harder vocabulary in an accessible way.

More Fancy Nancy?

Fancy Nancy (the original), one of the shorter hardcovers, and one of the 8x8 paperbacks.

Fancy Nancy (the original), one of the shorter hardcovers, and one of the 8×8 paperbacks.

Boy, are there ever!

Picture Books:

  1. Fancy Nancy (2005)
  2. Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy (2007)
  3. Fancy Nancy: Bonjour Butterfly (2008)
  4. Fancy Nancy’s Favorite Fancy Words (2008)*
  5. Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire (2009)*
  6. Fancy Nancy Tea Parties (2009)*
  7. Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas (2009)
  8. Fancy Nancy: Poet Extraordinaire (2010)*
  9. Fancy Nancy: Ooh La La It’s Beauty Day (2010)*
  10. Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique (2010)
  11. Fancy Nancy: Aspiring Artist (2011)*
  12. Fancy Nancy: Stellar Stargazer (2011)*
  13. Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet (2011)
  14. Fancy Nancy: Fanciest Doll in the Universe (2013)
  15. Fancy Nancy and the Wedding of the Century (2014)

8×8 Picture Books (Paperback only):

  1. Fancy Nancy: Halloween or Bust! (2009)
  2. Fancy Nancy: Heart to Heart (2009)
  3. Fancy Nancy: Elegant Easter (2009)
  4. Fancy Nancy and the Sensational Babysitter (2010)
  5. Fancy Nancy and the Late, Late, LATE Night (2010)
  6. Fancy Nancy’s Marvelous Mother’s Day Brunch (2011)
  7. Fancy Nancy: Our Thanksgiving Banquet (2011)
  8. Fancy Nancy: Tea for Two (2012)
  9. The first early chapter!

    The first early chapter!

  10. Fancy Nancy: JoJo’s First Day Jitters (2012)
  11. Fancy Nancy: There’s No Day Like a Snow Day (2012)
  12. Fancy Nancy: Puppy Party (2013)
  13. Fancy Nancy: Budding Ballerina (2013)
  14. Fancy Nancy: Sand Castles and Sand Palaces (2014)
  15. Fancy Nancy and the Fall Foliage (2014)
  16. Fancy Nancy: Spring Fashion Fling (2015)

Early Chapter Books:

  1. Nancy Clancy, Super Sleuth (2012)
  2. Nancy Clancy, Secret Admirer (2013)
  3. Nancy Clancy Sees the Future (2013)
  4. Nancy Clancy, Secret of the Silver Key (2014)
  5. Nancy Clancy, Star of Stage and Screen (2015)

Dates to Remember

No readers are forthcoming, at least from what I know. I would guess that one more is likely to publish this year.

But there is a new early chapter coming out: Nancy Clancy, Soccer Mania on September 8th, 2015.

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