By Bill Robinson
BEREA — Hollywood on Oscar night has probably never seen so many glamorous young ladies dressed to the nines as could be found Saturday afternoon at the Madison County Public Library in Berea.
The occasion was a “Fancy Nancy” party, and little girls decked out in tiaras, headbands, beads, feather boas and wearing lacy dresses seemed to take over the library. A few girls even wore butterfly wings. The colors pink, purple and white predominated.
For those who have not heard yet, Fancy Nancy is a children’s book character who believes that more is always better when it comes to being fancy. Nancy believes in mixing as well as matching. She also is fond of butterflies.
Youth services librarian Pat Acevedo was prepared to pass out tiaras and serve parfait and cookies to 73 girls from 1 to 4 p.m. However, by 2 p.m. more than 100 excited little girls and their moms had already arrived. A few brothers got dragged along too.
Fortunately, some of the would-be Fancy Nancys showed up wearing tiaras.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Acevedo said. “I knew Fancy Nancy was popular, but I didn’t know just how popular.”
To spread out the crowd, the librarian moved the Fancy Nancy craft activities into the children’s reading area, where the girls strung brightly colored beads into necklaces to go with the ones most of them already had. Remember Nancy’s credo, “When it comes to being fancy, more is always better.”
Nancy is not only about glamour, however, she is also about sophistication. Her books intersperse vocabulary into the fun stories, said Melody Srsic of Berea, who brought her 4-year-old daughter Eleanor to the party.
Vocabulary is a fancy term that means big words.
In the Fancy Nancy book about Christmas, Nancy said her family wanted a Christmas tree with a nice aroma, which is a fancy word that means smell.
When it came to selecting a tree, however, Nancy’s father told her they would have to compromise. This is a big word that means they went home with the tree that Mom wanted.
Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.
