Review - Fancy Nancy: Time for Puppy School

Fancy Nancy: Time for Puppy School (Fancy Nancy)
by Jane O'Connor
illustrated by Ted Enik
Date: 2017
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

Ooh la la--school starts soon! Fancy Nancy can't wait to go back, but she'll miss Frenchy very much. Nancy's loved playing with her favorite puppy all summer, but sometimes Frenchy can be a bit naughty. When she gets into trouble one too many times, the Clancys decide that it's time for Frenchy to go to school, too--puppy school! But will Frenchy change her doggy ways?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Frenchy, the Clancy family's poodle, is the best dog ever... except when she's being naughty. As Nancy prepares for the upcoming school year, she gets a new backpack and decorates it (so that it's fancy, of course). Meanwhile, Frenchy is being a bad dog: trying to jump on the table, begging for food, and barking nonstop. The bad behaviour culminates in her un-fancying Nancy's new backpack... and it's off to puppy school for her.

I don't know. The story seemed a little weak to me, and the illustrations even looked a bit different in places. This is one of the newer Fancy Nancy titles from the I Can Read! series, so I don't know if the author and illustrator are just running out of steam. (I might've liked it more if I hadn't already read a bunch of these. It's not a bad book; it's just not quite as good as some of the others in the series.) Many of the Fancy Nancy books involve her cleverly solving a problem, but in this case, the dog was the problem, and after a week at puppy school, she was magically (and rather unrealistically, I thought) cured of all her bad habits.

Overall, this isn't near the top of my list of favourite Fancy Nancy books. But it's still pretty high up there, in terms of children's picture books in general. Dog lovers and Fancy Nancy fans will probably enjoy this one.

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