Fancy Nancy Sees Stars

Today's book is titled Fancy Nancy Sees Stars, written by Jane O'Connor. Fancy Nancy Sees Stars is an "I Can Read!" book assigned to beginning readers at the 1st-2nd grade reading level. This book is about a little girl named Nancy who loves the stars! She is so excited when her class decides to take a night trip to the planetarium because she knows so much about the stars and constellations already, but when a rainstorm ruins the show, Nancy gets very sad. But not to worry! By the time Nancy's family gets home, the rain is gone and the sky is full of stars. Nancy and her family and friends decide to have their own night sky show in their backyard where they observe many constellations and even see a meteor. I loved this book for it's genuine characters that have a passion for astronomy even at such a young age. I think this sends a great message to younger children to get them excited about learning more about earth science and the solar system.

My favorite thing about this story (aside from the fact that it's about stars and stargazers!) is that the author includes subtle definitions of words that may be foreign to readers within the dialogue. For example, when Nancy tells the reader that her class will be visiting the planetarium, she then says "That is a museum about stars and planets". This is an excellent component of the story that will be very helpful for students reading at this level. Not only does it introduce them to new words, but it defines them so they are less intimidating, they can learn them right away without having to remember to look it up, and it makes the story more understandable when it uses words that students can understand. This would be a great book to use in the classroom when making a word wall of unfamiliar words, specifically for astronomy or earth science unit. Students could read through the book and write out the longer, harder words and then define them on a piece of paper. The teacher could then hang it up on a designated word wall where students can add words they find from other books or words they've learned in a lesson. This is a great way to increase earth science vocabulary knowledge in younger students. I look forward to reading more stories from the Fancy Nancy series!

O'Connor, J. (2008). Fancy nancy sees stars. New York: Harper Collins.