The Eye of the Beholder: Fancy Nancy: Spectacular Spectacles by Jane O'Connor

BREE CAN'T COME OVER AFTER SCHOOL TODAY. SHE'S GOING TO THE EYE DOCTOR.

AT SCHOOL HER EYES HURT A LOT.

IT'S VERY DISTRESSING (THAT'S LIKE UPSETTING, ONLY FANCIER).

That night Nancy gets a special message from Bree promising a surprise the next morning when they meet to walk to school. Nancy has an inkling what the big reveal is going to be, but when she sees Bree's lavender glasses with sparkles, she's agog:

OOH LA LA! YOU LOOK SPECTACULAR!

And at school Bree is the center of all eyes. No one else has ever seen lavender (that's fancy for light purple) glasses. Bree regales the class with her show-and-tell about what happens during an eye exam. And when morning lessons are done, Bree pulls out a spectacularly glittery silver case to stash her specks while they go out for recess. Nancy is glad that her friend's eyes don't burn from eyestrain and that she can read "tiny stuff now," and she is proud when Ms. Glass tells Bree that her lavender "spectacles" are most "becoming" (two fancy words even Nancy had never heard before).

But the crisis for Fancy Nancy comes when Bree whips out a special hankie--incredibly fancy thin silk--and pink with purple polka dots--to clean her new glasses. Our girl is suddenly stricken with a rare emotion for her---envy. Has Nancy been out-fancied by Bree's eyewear accessories?

At home Nancy broods over the situation and tries to convince herself and then her parents that she, too, needs glasses, to keep up with Bree's spectacular spectacles. It's time for a heart-to-heart with Mom.

"I WISH I HAD A HANKIE LIKE THAT. I WISH I HAD A SILVER CASE.

MOST OF ALL I WISH I HAD LAVENDER GLASSES WITH GLITTER! IT'S NOT FAIR!" NANCY CONFESSES.

MOM DOESN'T GET MAD. "YOUR EYES ARE FINE," SHE SAYS. "YOU ARE A VERY LUCKY GIRL."

Then the creative Nancy has a fancy brainstorm. From her stash of beads, butterflies, bows, glitter, and feathers, together Mom and Nancy retrofit a pair of her old sunglasses into spectacular spectacles she can show off the next time she sees Bree:

"MY GLASSES ARE JUST PRETEND. BUT DON'T I LOOK FANCY?"

In this newest in her I-Can-Read series for Harper, Jane O'Connor's Fancy Nancy: Spectacular Spectacles (I Can Read Book 1) provides an easy-to-read book for beginners with plenty of vocabulary boosts in the form of "Nancy's Fancy Words," summarized in the glossary. O'Connor's best-selling full-dress picture and beginning readers have a new model in their lineup, and this one shows Nancy dealing with what is for her the new emotion of envy, learning how to cope with letting her friend have her moment in the fashion spotlight as well. A good read for Nancy's young fans and a painless introduction to the sometimes painful experience of being the first in the class to wear glasses, this one is another winner for O'Connor and Company.