"Fancy Nancy Tea for Two"

I know I'm not the only one here who enjoys collecting children's books about teatime. Word came that a new one was out, Fancy Nancy Tea for Two, based on the creation of Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser. I found my copy of this one at the grocery store for just $3.99. Another children's book about teatime, Tea for Ruby by Sarah Ferguson, was also illustrated by Glasser, and I very much enjoyed reading and looking at both of these books.

In Tea for Two, a little girl named Bree invites Nancy over to her house for tea. Bree has some very special teawares given to her by her aunt, and she is excited about using them at tea with Nancy. So Bree and her doll, Chiffon, are soon enjoying a lovely tea with Nancy and her doll, Marabelle. Nancy finds herself getting jealous for the opportunity to reach for the teapot and play hostess. "Then," as the book says, "something horrible happens." I won't give away the plotline here, but I'll bet you can guess what happens! There's definitely a nice lesson here about sharing and forgiveness.

How charming it was to see a little white girl and a little black girl enjoying tea together in this book. My friend who spearheads the Christmas toy collection effort for local foster children has opened my eyes to the very real need for black baby dolls, and I found myself pleased to see the white and black dolls and their respective mommies in the book. That's when it occurred to me this would be a great book for me to give away this Christmas—along with dolls in various pretty colors. As we all know, there's not a little girl out there who couldn't learn to love teatime!