Amelia Bedelia is a classic children's story, a part of a larger series, about a housekeeper who takes all of her household instructions literally. Hired by the Rogers Family, Amelia is told to "take out the lights" and "dress the turkey. While this is her first time on the job, Amelia believes that these instructions should be taken quite literally and hangs the lightbulbs out on the clothesline, as well as dresses the turkey in a pair of overalls and ribbons for dinner.
Written by author and teacher, Peggy Parish, the inspiration for Amelia Bedelia came from her own classroom of third-grade students. Often times she would find that they would comically mix up vocabulary words and meanings, and thought it would be a funny personality of a protagonist.
It only recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a reprint of the original Amelia Bedelia and a section that shows how Amelia has changed over the years with different illustrators. In addition to the reprint, there is also a new Amelia Bedelia in the "I Can Read" series and two more books have been published starting a new chapter book series written by Parish's nephew, Herman Parish.
Have you had the joy of reading Amelia Bedelia? What was your favorite part of this hilarious housekeeper?
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ReplyDeleteI grew up on the Amelia Bedelia books and they were a really big part of my childhood! This post brings back some memories, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteAmelia was such a wacky protagonist, which made her all the more lovable.
I think my favorite Amelia Bedelia-ism would be when she's told to "draw the drapes" in the first book. Of course, she then gets out her sketchpad and doodles a quick line drawing of the curtains. I mean what else would you expect from this silly housekeeper?