The Ladybug Reads...: Review - Fancy Nancy: Best Reading Buddies

Sunday, February 17, 2019

Review - Fancy Nancy: Best Reading Buddies

Fancy Nancy: Best Reading Buddies (Fancy Nancy)
by Jane O'Connor
illustrated by Ted Enik
Date: 2016
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

Ooh la la--Fancy Nancy is so lucky! She and her reading buddy, Violet, read together every Monday. But when a few Mondays go by without being able to meet, Nancy begins to miss her new friend. Will Violet and Nancy find a way to read together even if they're not at school?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This brings back memories! I remember having a reading buddy many years ago. First, I was the younger of the pair, and then later, I was the older reading buddy. I can remember how "big" the older kids seemed (well, when you're in kindergarten, even the kids in grade one seem so much older).

Nancy has a reading buddy named Violet. I'm not exactly sure how old Nancy is, but Violet is in the fifth grade. She's a nice kid, and doesn't appear to look down on Nancy at all. And Nancy really looks up to Violet. They both want to be librarians, and they like the same types of books. Nancy even tries to imitate Violet's original style of dressing.

But there's a period of a few weeks where they just can't seem to connect for their Monday reading sessions. First, Nancy wakes up with a cold and can't go to school. The next week, Violet's class has a field trip. The week after that, it's a holiday and there's no school. Nancy really misses her reading buddy... but with a bit of string-pulling from the parents behind the scenes, the girls eventually find a way to have some reading fun together.

As in the other Fancy Nancy book I've read so far, the illustrations are really cute. I can't complain.

This is a sweet little story about friendship and a love of reading. It also has some nice "fancy" words in the text (and glossary) so kids can learn a bit of new vocabulary. I would've eaten this book up when I was little, and I'm sure there are plenty of kids who still will.

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