Aquarium Anxieties! Fancy Nancy: Peanut Butter and Jellyfish (I-Can-Read) K by Jane O'Connor

With summer vacations in view, May is a big month for field trips, and kids who have a class field trip to an aquarium are lucky, but... not all the sea creatures look cuddly and some aren't exactly cute! And in this easy reader, author Jane O'Connor and her customary illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser have Fancy Nancy almost have an uncommon meltdown when she confronts the several cases of a particularly unusual species.

Fancy Nancy likes the sparkly, snazzy, and spectacular tropical fish. Their colors are varied, their patterns are pretty, and with trailing, diaphanous fancy fins and elegant shapes, they are what Nancy calls "tres magnifique!"

But when Nancy, her best friend Bree, and their friends move on through the aquarium, Bree pulls Nancy toward one case that she thinks Nancy is going to love. The jellies' many colors and their undulating mantles are almost mesmerizing as they swim along. But Nancy has another reaction when she sees those trailing tentacles:

"C'est terrible!"

In Jane O'Connor's Fancy Nancy: Peanut Butter and Jellyfish (I Can Read Level 1) (HarperCollins), the usual ebullient Nancy can't bear to look at the jellies. But as usual, her teacher Ms. Glass knows just what to do. Artist Robin Preiss Glasser outdoes herself depicting the denizens of the deep at the aquarium and Nancy rises to the occasion. This book makes a perfect read-aloud to prep students for a field trip to the aquarium, and its controlled vocabulary works for early primary readers to practice solo reading skills.