Amelia Bedelia

This classic childhood book follows a maid, Amelia Bedelia, on her first day of work. When she arrives her bosses, Mr. & Mrs. Rogers, go out leaving her a list of tasks to complete. Before getting started on her jobs, she bakes a lemon meringue pie as a surprise for the Rogers’ return. The list asked Amelia Bedelia to:

Change the towels in the green bathroom

Dust the furniture

Draw the drapes when the sun comes in

Put the lights out when you finish in the living room

Measure two cups of rice

The meat market will deliver a steak and a chicken.

Please trim the fat before you put the steak in the icebox.

And please dress the Chicken

Amelia Bedelia performs all the tasks as she understood them to be stated. She pulled out a measuring tape and measures two cups of rice.

“-it measured four and half inches.”

She dresses the chicken in cloth and placed it in a box all pretty. As Mrs. Rogers opens her mouth to fire Amelia Bedelia, the lemon meringue pies saves her job.

This fun tale demonstrates the double meaning of simple tasks and a funny tale of how a maid was confused.It is a great book for a child to understand how sometimes it is alright to be confused and an all around enjoying for them to read with a parent or on their own.

This original Amelia Bedelia was first published in 1963 by Peggy Parish and illustrated by Fritz Siebel. Now there are around 30 books in this series. When Peggy Parish passed away in 1988 her nephew Herman Parish continued the series again in 1995. Later HarperCollins has transformed these books into an I Can Read series, which notifies children of differing level books that are appropriate for their reading level. Click here to see more of its kind.

Enjoy!

<3 Deirdre