Time and Tide! Fancy Nancy: Sand Castles and Sand Palaces by Jane O'Connor

WE ARE GOING ON AN OUTING! THAT'S FANCY FOR A SHORT TRIP!

CAN YOU GUESS WHERE?

IF YOU THINK IT'S TO THE BEACH, YOU ARE 100 PERCENT CORRECT!

That's not hard to figure when you notice Nancy's beachcombing coiffure, with shell-decorated barrettes to hold her curls in place. Mom packs the trunk with a picnic basket, beach balls, an umbrella, towels, and sandpail and shovel, and Nancy, her best friend Bree, and little JoJo climb into the car and hit the busy highway to the shore.

Finally there, Bree and Nancy head for the main attraction.

RIGHT AWAY WE RUSH DOWN TO THE OCEAN AND FROLIC IN THE WAVES.

FROLICKING IS FANCY FOR JUMPING AROUND AND HAVING FUN.

After a bit of refreshment, it's time to get serious with a sand castle.  Nancy hauls buckets of  sea water up to the building site so that  Mom can show the three girls how to make dribble turrets on top of their castle walls.  JoJo helps gather shells to decorate the battlements and discovers one shell (with a hermit crab inside) making its escape. They pronounce their sand creation a palace.

Hot and sandy, the girls head into the water, but Mom soon calls them out, saying the waves are getting too rough for frolicking. They decide to have their picnic higher up the beach under the big umbrella, and when they look back, something bad is happening!

OH, NOW LOOK WHAT THE WAVES ARE DOING!!

OUR PALACE IS IN RUINS!

Time and tide wait for no sand castle, however fancy, in Jane O'Connor's Fancy Nancy adventure, Fancy Nancy: Sand Castles and Sand Palaces (HarperFestival, 2015), but although Jojo sheds a few tears for her lost castle, Nancy points out that there's no shortage of sand on the beach, and a new edifice soon arises, bigger and better, and even more fancy--above the high tide line. All's well at the end of a great day at the beach, and to add to the fun there are over 30 sand-and-surf-themed stickers which young readers can use to add detail to Carolyn Bracken's sunny illustrations or create their own fun-in-the-sun pages themselves.