Tutti de Tutus: Too Many Tutus by Jane O'Connor

Nancy Clancy's closet is too, too tight.

MY CLOSET IS BULGING. (THAT IS A FANCY WAY TO SAY THAT THE DOOR WILL NOT CLOSE.)

"YOU HAVE TOO MANY TUTUS," MY MOM TELLS ME.

Of course, there is no such thing as too many accessories for Fancy Nancy. Still, she see the virtues of  a closet door that will close.  Little sister JoJo is happy to take one outgrown tutu off her hands.  But Nancy draws the line at donating more than two tutus.

At school the next day Ms. Glass has the perfect solution to the Clancy closet problem. The class will have a Swap Shop day. Students will receive a point for each item they donate, which they can "spend" at the shop to buy swapped merchandise. OOO LA LA!! Nancy likes any activity that has the word "shop" in it somewhere, and with this incentive she assembles a treasure trove of cast-off finery to donate to the Swap Shop, earning fifteen points for her donations.

But push comes to shove the next day when Nancy and her nemesis Grace both covet the same beautiful green tutu with double tulle tiers and bows. Grace gets to it first, but Nancy is in luck--Grace only has five points  and the tutu is priced at seven!

"HA! MINE!" I SAY. 

I START TO TAKE THE TUTU FROM GRACE.  BUT SHE LOOKS MISERABLE.

THAT MAKES ME FEEL BAD.

Nancy knows what it's like to have a case of the tutu blues, and her altruism wins out over tutu mania.

MISS GLASS TAKES ME ASIDE AND SAYS, "THAT WAS VERY THOUGHTFUL."
(THOUGHTFUL IS FANCY FOR KIND.)

"YOU ARE GROWING UP IN LOTS OF WAYS."

It's a rare primary grade girl today whose closet doesn't boast two to ten tutus. For different reasons, both parents and tutu enthusiasts will empathize with Nancy's too many tutus dilemma in Jane O'Connor's latest I-Can-Read tale, Fancy Nancy: Too Many Tutus (I Can Read Book 1) (Harper, 2013). Nancy may be a pint-sized fashionista, but she also has a good heart and shows it when she shares the tutu treasure with her classmate. As always, the characters devised by O'Connor and original artist Robin Preiss Glasser are ably illustrated by Ted Enik in the newest in this too-too terrific beginning reader series.