Review - Fancy Nancy: The Case of the Disappearing Doll

Fancy Nancy: The Case of the Disappearing Doll (Fancy Nancy)
adapted by Nancy Parent
illustrated by the Disney Storybook Art Team
Date: 2019
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: hardcover
Source: library

It’s time for a tea party, but Nancy’s doll, Marabelle, is nowhere to be found! Nancy and Bree will have to be sleuths (which is a fancy way of saying people who solve mysteries!) to crack the case of the disappearing doll.

Disney Junior’s Fancy Nancy: The Case of the Disappearing Doll is a Level One I Can Read, perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences.

Disney Junior’s Fancy Nancy is an animated family comedy starring six-year-old Nancy, a girl who is fancy in everything from her advanced vocabulary to her creative, elaborate attire. The show is based on the New York Times bestselling book series Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I enjoyed this book a little more than some of the other Disney-fied Fancy Nancy titles, but it still doesn't hold up very well against the original storybooks.

In this story, Nancy's doll goes missing. She searches everywhere, and even accuses a few people of taking her (true to form, though, she apologizes when she finds out she's wrong; Nancy is, if nothing else, a nice kid). Eventually, Nancy and Bree solve the case and everyone lives happily ever after.

There are some nice "fancy" words in this one, so that's a plus. But I'm still not a huge fan of the way these characters are drawn. Nancy is nowhere near as fancy as in the original books, and Bree has lost some of her funky style that I loved so much. (She's drawn with more distinctive features in the original books, and her hair is a wonderful, ever-changing mass of butterflies, braids, and various other fancy things. In the Disney version, though, she just has a couple of plain hair puffs, and her features are very similar to Nancy's. I don't know if I'd go as far as saying she's been whitewashed, but she's definitely lost... something.)

Overall, this isn't the worst of the Disney Fancy Nancy books, but it's not the best. I'd recommend sticking with the original storybooks (or the I Can Read! titles with the original style of illustrations) unless you're a die-hard fan of the TV show.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 2.83 out of 5