Friday, December 2, 2011

Follow Friday - Fancy Nancy: My Family History by Jane O'Connor

Books are a big deal in my house.  Everyone in my family, including the 6 month old, loves to read.  Earlier this year, I was excited when my mom gave my toddler a book that included genealogy. (You can never start them too young!) 



Fancy Nancy: My Family History by Jane O'Connor is an I Can Read Level 1 book.  It tells the story of Nancy's school project to write an ancestor report.  Since all of Nancy's ancestors are deceased ("That is fancy for dead."), she interviews her grandfather to learn about his dad.  Nancy gathers facts, writes her report, and then rewrites her report.  The re-write is necessary to eliminate the embellishments Nancy included the first time around to make her "ordinary" ancestors more exciting. 

I love to read this book to my daughter.  It gives me a chance to connect my daughter with my favorite hobby in a way that an almost three year old can understand.  I also like that it has lessons for adults.  The best place to start with your family history is to interview the living.  You should always gather facts.  You should write a research report for the information you find.  All of us have ancestors who are considered "boring" and it is okay.  

I definitely recommend this book to any geneamommy out there.

3 comments:

  1. Friends with children keep telling me about Fancy Nancy and say their children are excited to come visit me (though I'm anything but fancy!). I'll have to borrow this from the library and read it. Thanks for telling us about it.

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  2. Thanks for letting us know about this book. I purchased a copy for my 6-year-old daughter (who apparently loves Fancy Nancy) as soon as I read this. It arrived a few days ago, so now she'll have a copy to open tomorrow morning. This might help explain to her what Daddy is always working on. :)

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  3. Michael,

    Thanks for reminding me that geneadaddies are important too. I hope you and your daughter enjoy the book!

    Sierra

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