Tea for Ruby by Sarah Furgeson

Tea for Ruby by Sarah The Duchess of York Furgeson, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

Rating: 3.5 stars

Whenever I see a book at Pottery Barn Kids, I always wonder if it's a good one.  I mean, I am a total sucker for most of the stuff they sell (especially the bedding) so I always suspect that they have some inside scoop on what books are good, too.

But, it turns out, I'll buy more quilts from them than books.

This is a good book on manners, and if you daughter likes the Fancy Nancy series, she'll undoubtedly enjoy this one.  Ruby, the main character, gets a fancy invitation in the mail to have tea with the Queen.  She's so excited she breaks every rule that most little kids struggle with: interrupting others, dressing appropriately, talking with her mouth full, things like that.  She does her best to remember as she strolls into the "palace" gates, only to find, to her delight, that the Queen is actually her grandmother.

There's not much to this book, but the pictures alone hold Lorelei's interest for a few minutes at a time, mostly because of the fancy dresses that Ruby imagines herself wearing when she has tea with the Queen.  I can relate--I remember drawing fancy dresses on my mother's blackboard after school when I was in grade school.  And I was a horseback-riding tomboy! 

This is a sweet book if you're a grandma, and I love the idea of Lorelei having tea with one of her grandmothers a few years from now--at her house or at a fancy place.  Maybe at a house, learning manners, knowing what to expect at tea, is a good warm-up.  This book helps a bit, but it's not our list of books to buy others or ourselves.

Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas by Jane O'Connor

Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas by Jane O'Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glassner

Rating: 3.5 stars

A friend of mine whose daughter is into anything and everything princess asked me what I thought about Fancy Nancy recently.  She and her daughter had read all of the Ladybug Girl books (read my review of Ladybug Girl at the Beach here) but my friend didn't like Lulu the Ladybug Girl very much--"she's kind of a brat," she said.  I agree, though the books are still pretty good.

I was hesitant about Fancy Nancy (here's my review of a bunch of Fancy Nancy books all in one post), but now I like her.  Love?  Not quite yet.  But I appreciate her a little more now, maybe because Lorelei's a tiny bit older than when we first read the books.  Her outfits are definitely outrageous and her insistence on looking her fanciest every moment of the day makes me want to roll my eyes while Lorelei isn't looking.  But, and here's the good part: Nancy always does the right thing.  Sometimes she pouts on her way to doing that right thing, and while I don't even want Lorelei knowing what pouting is--let alone doing it!--at least Nancy arrives at a good ending.

In this book, Nancy and her family go get a Christmas tree and wait for her grandfather to arrive to decorate it.  While waiting for him, Nancy pleads with her parents to let her put up the new tree-topper, a super annoying angel thing that rotates and shines and might do flips, too.  They let her, of course, so the tree is bare except for the enormous tree topper.  Then she and her dog are playing tug-of-war and she knocks the tree over, breaking her beloved tree topper.  Her grandfather arrives and tells her "if you break eggs, make eggnog!" or to improvise.  The whole family gathers around to make a new tree topper with all the glitter, pom-poms and other fancy stuff they can find.

That's the other thing I like about this series: they really do teach new vocabulary words.  Many times the words are great--improvise is probably one of my favorites.  We use it every day when we have something that Lorelei thinks we should (I forget a lot of stuff at the grocery store).  So, we improvise! 

Another thing Fancy Nancy helped us with was our field trip "uniform" the other day.  Lorelei's teachers told her to wear her green school T-shirt, something Lorelei didn't want to do.  I asked her, "What would Fancy Nancy do?"  We didn't wear every necklace and bracelet she owned like I suggested, but we did wear it with polka-dotted leggings, a tutu-like skirt, and big green bows in her hair.  My husband gave me a look, but luckily didn't question the outfit out loud.  It was hilarious, but she was happy and the T-shirt stayed on (until they got back from the field trip, when she asked her teacher to help her take it off). 

So we'll keep reading them--but not buying.  Not sure if I want them just lying around the house for her to get inspiration for her outfits everyday!  Boas and feathers are just not my thing...

Fancy Nancy series by Nancy O'Connor

Fancy Nancy series by Nancy O'Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

Rating: 3.5ish stars, depending on the book (see below)

I've written before about our second grader-neighbor for whom we often cheer as she steps off the school bus in the afternoon.  A few months ago this lovely little girl was carrying a few new books, all of them Fancy Nancy books.  Guess what books were the ONLY ones Lorelei wanted from the library that week?

Sigh.

Fancy Nancy and her fancy ways are here at our house.  I'm trying to support this phase; I am trying to pretend like it's a future teenage stage that Lorelei will inevitably go through that I certainly don't encourage or prefer but...I should nonetheless support. 

I really, really, really dragged my feet on this one, trying to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.  Many of my seemingly sane friends and mothers of girls always asked me, "Have you read Fancy Nancy yet?"  Um, of course not!  Tomboy at heart, right here!  Yet Lorelei walked around with sunglasses and two watches and a random necklace, telling me she was getting fancy for Dawn's (my cousin) wedding (see picture on right).

So we've read almost all of them and, I'm really surprised to say, I've learned little facts from each of them.  Not just the fancy words--I know most of those!--but actual facts about butterflies or poison ivy.  And that, of course, humbles me a bit and makes me realize that this is a pretty good series of books.

If only Nancy didn't wear so many friggin' tiaras and beads and feathers and heels!  I really could come to like her if the illustrations weren't so over-the-top frilly.  But, of course, it's hard to be fancy without being frilly.

So here's a short synopsis and rating of the ones we've read so far:

Fancy Nancy  (4 stars)  This is the original, and it's pretty easy to see why so many little girls fell in love with Fancy Nancy.  It's a good read, and there's a lot to look at in the little pictures, though I don't really encourage careful study of Fancy Nancy's room because over my dead body would Lorelei's room look like that! 

Fancy Nancy and the Late, Late, LATE Night  (3.5 stars) Nancy stays up late looking at the photo album that belongs to her neighbor, and then she realizes how tough it is to be sweet and fun and engaging without a good night's sleep.  This is a must read if you have a newborn in the house, so your kids gain a TINY bit of understanding about why you're so tired, and maybe just a little crabby.

Fancy Nancy: Ooh La La! It's Beauty Day  (2 stars)  This book was hard to get through.  I skimmed it while reading it to Lorelei.  The sub-title should be: How to have your very own spa day.  Fancy Nancy gives recipes/instructions for facials and pedicures and stuff like that.  I think it'd be fun if your daughter is 5 or 7 and can do everything herself, but this is not the bonding activity I prefer at this age.  That type of thing is my escape!  Don't make me do it at home! 

Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly  (4 stars)  We like this one, mostly because we have some gigantic butterfly bushes (they are seriously out of control) that magically attract some gorgeous butterflies.  Today we tried to catch them with a net--I wish I had a camera because Ben was holding the net and trying to stick the poor butterfly with the rod attached to the net.  Oops.  We'll have to reread this one again, so I can show Ben how to catch a butterfly, not stab it.  Also, we're planning a trip to the butterfly garden in DC because of this book.

Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy (4 stars)  This is actually a great book if you're thinking about getting a dog, because Nancy really wants a tiny little dog like her neighbor but, when she takes care of it for a few days, she realizes it's not the dog for her, or for her family.  (Check out our own posh puppy in the picture.  That's Guidry, one of our rescued weims.)

Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words: From Accessories to Zany (3 stars)  Silly, but Lorelei's really into words, and she really likes alphabet books right now. 

Fancy Nancy: Poet Extraordinaire!  (3 stars)  I do like the poems at the end, but the story before you get there is annoying.  Nancy whines about not being able to write a poem even though everyone else can do it so easily.  She finally writes an ode to her teacher and I can't believe that the illustrator resisted the temptation to draw in a few of her classmates rolling their eyes at Nancy's brown-nosing poem. 

Fancy Nancy: Pajama Day (I Can Read Book 1) (4 stars)  This book was within a great find--the I Can Read section of our library.  These books are mostly just the right length (in my opinion, the Berenstain Bears or some Dr Seuss books are long enough to qualify for one bedtime book, rather than two shorter ones) and actually teach a simple lesson or tell a simple story.  The words are all short and simple, so wanna-be readers like Lorelei have a good chance of looking at the word and guessing what it is, especially if they know the gist of the story already.  This book is, you guessed it, about the day Nancy wears pajamas to school.  She feels excluded because she chooses to wear frilly ones instead of the ones her pal Bree suggested.

Fancy Nancy: Every Day Is Earth Day (I Can Read Book 1)  (5 stars)  This is the only one I'd buy, and it might go on Lorelei's Christmas list.  I really think that it's hard to find a good book that introduces kids to green concepts in just the right way--not too much, not too little--and this book does a good job.  Nancy makes up little rhymes (such as, "Less than a mile, ride in style" to encourage bike riding instead of car driving) so she and her family can be make better choices for the environment.

Fancy Nancy: Poison Ivy Expert (I Can Read Book 1) (4.5 stars) Another good one for our neck of the woods--because we have a bunch of poison ivy in our woods and I don't even know what it looks like!  But now Lorelei a) knows what it is and that it's better to stay away from it, b) knows what it looks like, and c) knows the rhyme "Leaves of three, let it be!"  This is a book we'll check out again and again--each time we go camping, or every now and then to remind ourselves of the not-so-great stuff in our backyard.