Review - Fancy Nancy: Candy Bonanza

Fancy Nancy: Candy Bonanza (Fancy Nancy)
by Jane O'Connor
illustrated by Carolyn Bracken
Date: 2015
Publisher: HarperFestival
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 24
Format: e-book
Source: library

Today is Halloween and Nancy can't wait to collect candy from each house she visits. But it's hard to leave all those delectable treats in her pumpkin pail. Is there such a thing as too much candy?

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This is a fairly weak addition to the Fancy Nancy series. I guess every picture book series needs to have a book for each of the major holidays, but this one just feels like the author and illustrator phoned it in.

Nancy goes trick-or-treating with her dad, little sister, and best friend. As she collects candy, more goes into her mouth than into her pail. Soon, she's got a terrible stomachache, and has to be taken home... so she misses the last bit of trick-or-treating.

Dad really dropped the ball here. Who lets a six-year-old stuff her face with candy handed out by strangers? (I don't know if things have changed, but we weren't even allowed to touch our loot until it had been given a once-over by our parents to check for things like tampering.) I guess maybe, in Nancy's neighbourhood, everybody knows everybody. But that's not really expressed (Nancy doesn't even seem to know most of the neighbours' names).

I'm also not a fan of the way one of the "fancy" words is used here. "Exaggerating" isn't quite "a little like fibbing, only fancier". If we're trying to teach new words with these books, the definitions need to be more precise.

The illustrations don't really impress me, either. With these books, I much prefer Robin Preiss Glasser's original illustrations, or even Ted Enik's lovely approximations of the style. Bracken gets close... but some of the magic is missing.

This is probably fine for fans of Fancy Nancy, but as a Halloween picture book, it falls a little short. I'd probably only recommend it if you're itching to read all the books in the series.

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

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3 out of 5