Fancy Nancy: Peanut Butter and Jellyfish (Fancy Nancy)
by Jane O'Connor
illustrated by Ted Enik
Date: 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library
During a class trip to the aquarium, Fancy Nancy is enjoying all the incredible sea creatures—that is until she comes to the jellyfish exhibit! With the help of Ms. Glass and her friends, Nancy learns to overcome her fear of jellyfish, and she makes her teacher a special project to say thank you.
(synopsis from Goodreads)
Nancy and her class take a trip to the aquarium where they see all sorts of interesting creatures. But when they get to the jellyfish exhibit, Nancy doesn't want to look. She detests jellyfish because she was once stung by one, and she can't bring herself to look at them. But once her teacher explains a little bit about jellyfish, Nancy comes to realize that the jellyfish that stung her wasn't out to get her, and perhaps they're not so bad after all.
I like the message about overcoming fear with knowledge, and the illustrations are as cute as always. But this book might seem a little dated (even though it's only from 2014) because of the peanut issue. Nancy is portrayed as sitting with her classmates while eating her lunch of PB&J, celery with peanut butter, and peanut butter cookies. Later, she makes a diorama for her teacher using peanut butter in place of sand. This would be in violation of a lot of today's schools' no-nuts policies, so I'm not sure showing a child building a potentially deadly diorama and taking it to school is the best thing! (I suppose this book could open up an interesting discussion about food allergies.)
It's a cute story, but perhaps one that would've been more appropriate for a previous generation, before so many kids had to carry EpiPens to keep from dying in the cafeteria.
Quotable moment:
Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 4/5
Originality: 3/5
Enjoyment: 4/5
Overall: 3.5 out of 5
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