What youngster doesn't like saying the name?
George Herman Ruth. George Herman Ruth. Just doesn't cut it, does it?
Peggy Parish wrote the original 12 Amelia Bedelia books. I got to read all but three of them that were not available locally. Reading the other nine, plus one by Herman Parish, was plenty.
Here are the nine, plus one, that I read.
- Amelia Bedelia
- Thank You, Amelia Bedelia
- Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia
- Good Work, Amelia Bedelia
- Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia
- Amelia Bedelia Helps Out
- Amelia Bedelia and the Baby
- Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping
- Amelia Bedelia's Family Album
- Amelia Bedelia and the Cat (H. Parish)
As you can see, Amelia's name is featured in every title.
The three I skipped were these.
- Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower
- Come Back, Amelia Bedelia
- Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia
For those who don't know the premise of this series, Amelia is a maid who takes everything absolutely literally. For example, in the first book, she does these things for her employer.
- Change the towels
- Dust the furniture
- Draw the drapes
- Put the lights out
- Measure 2 cups of rice
- Trim the fat on the steak
- Dress the chicken
Usually, at the end of the story, something that she has baked so impresses the other characters that they forget about or excuse all her earlier missteps. Don't read too much into that. These are just meant to be fun books.
Amelia's mistakes in the first book are all quite easy to understand and explain, as needed, to a young reader. As the series progresses, however, many of her errors require more explanation than an adult will probably want to give.
Amelia Bedelia and the Baby is especially poor in this regard. Most of the literal meanings in Amelia Bedelia's Family Album are real stretches.
These books are considered "First Readers" by the library, but the edition of the original book that I read was mostly written in cursive. I doubt most first readers could handle that. (The cursive is supposed to show the list of tasks written to Amelia by her employer.)
The book written by Herman Parish was too long and wordy. Some of the sayings only an adult would understand, such as "in the doghouse."
I would suggest that you do read (or purchase) the original Amelia Bedelia for your youngster and read it with him. For the others, read them yourself ahead of time and decide if you then want to read them to your children.
