The Dress-Up World of 'Fancy Nancy'
Author Jane O'Connor
In her "Fancy Nancy" books, Jane O'Connor created a world she was very familiar with as a little girl. The idea for the adventure stories came from the special time each week when O'Connor's grandmother and great aunts would come to visit.
"The minute I would hear the doorbell ring, I'd run in my room, throw on my tutu, wrap this red cape I had and I'd come galumphing out in my mother's high heels and I felt that I was ready to greet my guests — that I was appropriately elegant for them," O'Connor tells Renee Montagne.
Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly is the new book in the series. O'Connor explains just what being "fancy" means to Nancy.
"In her world, it means putting frilly toothpicks into sandwiches," the author says. "It means adding lace trim to your soccer socks. She turns her own plain bed into a canopy bed by rigging up a sheet with a broom and a mop. So it's all homemade do-it-yourself fancy."
Excerpt: 'Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly'
"In the bathroom are little bottles of bath gel and shampoo and cream. Ooh la la! It's like being at a beauty spa."
"You know what? I am nearly positive butterflies understand French."
"Whenever my friend Bree and I see one, we say, 'Bonjour!' That's French for 'hello!'"
Excerpted from Fancy Nancy: Bonjour, Butterfly. Text copyright © 2008 by Jane Jane O'Connor. Illustrations copyright © 2008 by Robin Preiss Glasser.
Comments
Discussions for this story are now closed. Please see the Community FAQ for more information.