Just Plain Fancy

by Patricia Polacco

Overview

A charming picture book set in an Amish community, by the beloved storyteller Patricia Polacco.

Naomi lives with her farming family in an Amish village in Pennsylvania. As part of her household chores, Naomi looks after the chickens with her little sister, Ruth.

One day Naomi and Ruth find an abandoned egg near the road. Naomi decides this special egg must be hatched. And when it is, it's plain to see that this is no ordinary chick!

The girls keep the chick, named Fancy, a secret . . . until the day of their family's community working bee. On this day, Naomi is to receive a white organdy cap, an Amish tradition, as a reward for her hard work and responsibility. But on this day, too, Fancy the chick decides to introduce himself to the community!

The results are a sheer delight, pure and simple. Accompanied by Patricia Polacco's beautiful artwork, this story of discovery and growing up will stay in the hearts of all who turn its pages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307974716
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	09/24/2014
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Lexile:	AD720L (what's this?)
File size:	34 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Studying in the United States and Australia, Patricia Polacco has earned an MFA and a PhD in art history, specializing in Russian and Greek painting, and iconographic history. She is a museum consultant on the restoration of icons. As a participant in many citizen-exchange programs for writers and illustrators, Ms. Polacco has traveled extensively in Russia as well as other former Soviet republics. She continues to support programs that encourage Russo-American friendships and understanding. She is also deeply involved in inner-city projects in the United States that promote the peaceful resolution of conflict and encourage art and literacy programs. The mother of a grown son and a daughter, she currently resides in Michigan, where she has a glorious old farm that was built during the time of Lincoln.

Editorial Reviews

Naomi and Ruth are sisters who live on a farm in Pennyslvania's Amish country, where people take pride in their uncomplicated lives. But Naomi complains that everything in her life--from her clothes to her chickens--is plain. The girl longs for ``something fancy.'' When she and Ruth find an unusual egg by the side of the road, they place it in their hen's nest, hoping it will hatch. It does, and the bird that emerges is obviously not a garden-variety chick. The sisters name it ``Fancy,'' and keep its existence a secret from the grownups, who they fear will shun it. On the day the elders of the community have gathered for a working bee, Fancy breaks out of the henhouse and spreads its feathers in front of the group. By this time perceptive young readers will have gathered that Fancy is a peacock--and Polacco's pictures reveal it to be a magnificent one at that. Naomi is praised for raising such a beautiful bird, and learns that some kinds of ``fancy'' are acceptable. Polacco's warm story and sensitive illustrations offer a fresh, balanced perspective on Amish life. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

K-Gr 3-- Polacco's clear, lively, watercolor/pastel crayon illustrations play with varying perspectives in a way calculated to draw children into a world of order and simplicity: the Amish country of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Readers are introduced to Naomi and Ruth, Amish sisters, aged about ten and four. One day, while searching for mislaid eggs, Naomi tells Ruth that she longs for something ``fancy'' in her otherwise ``plain'' life. Her wish is fulfilled when the girls discover an unusual egg. When it is hatched, a very special chick emerges, appropriately named Fancy. Fearing that he will be considered an outcast because he is too fancy to be Amish, the girls keep their pet a secret for nearly a year. Finally, at a summer working bee, the bird can be contained no longer. He spreads his glorious plumage across two whole pages, and readers and the elders discover that he is a very handsome peacock. One of the elders calms Naomi's fears, telling her that a peacock is God's handiwork and that there can be no shame in their pet's being what he was meant to be. Brimming with details of Amish farm life, the illustrations are bound to inform as they entertain. The characters' expressive faces, the energy of the drawings, and the appropriateness of composition to mood and content of the story all unite to make this a picture book that's sure to tickle readers' fancy. --Carey Ayres, Port Washington Public Library, NY

School Library Journal