# Amelia Bedelia

Amelia Bedelia is a series of American children's books that were written by Peggy Parish from 1963 until her death in 1988, and by her nephew, Herman, from 1995 to 2022. The stories follow Amelia Bedelia, a maid who repeatedly misunderstands various commands of her employer by taking figures of speech and various terminology literally, causing her to perform incorrect actions with a comical effect. They have been illustrated by Wallace Tripp, Fritz Siebel, Lynn Sweat, Lynne Avril, and Barbara Siebel Thomas.

## Description

Amelia Bedelia is a series of American children's books beginning with Amelia Bedelia in 1963. They were written by Peggy Parish until her death in 1988. Herman Parish, Peggy's nephew, contributed new stories to the series from 1995 to 2022. Many of the books are published as part of the I Can Read! series, levels 1 and 2.

### Premise

The stories follow Amelia Bedelia, a maid who repeatedly misunderstands various commands of her employer by taking figures of speech and various terminology literally, causing her to perform incorrect actions with a comical effect. For example, she interprets a request to "put the lights out" as a request to physically put the light bulbs outside. Other examples include "tag a player out" when playing baseball resulting in her placing an actual tag on the player then picking up the person to ask how far out they should be.
Part of the reason given for this behavior is that she comes from a family who takes everything literally: their method of ridding their house of dust is to "un-dust" rather than dust the furniture. However, she almost always manages to win everyone over at the end with her excellent cooking, particularly of desserts. Much of her employment is as a maid for a wealthy couple known as the Rogers, who are astute enough to realize her literalism and write their requests as "un-dust the furniture" and "put the wet towels in the laundry and replace them with clean dry ones", as opposed to simply "change the towels".

### Illustrations

They have been illustrated by Wallace Tripp, Fritz Siebel, and the two current illustrators, Lynn Sweat and Lynne Avril. In 1992 HarperCollins republished the three original stories (Amelia Bedelia; Thank You, Amelia Bedelia; and Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower) with illustrations by Fritz's daughter, Barbara Siebel Thomas.

## Characters

* Amelia Bedelia: A maid who takes her orders too literally.
* Mrs. Rogers: An employer who often gets angry at Amelia Bedelia's mistakes.
* Mr. Rogers: The husband of Mrs. Rogers.

## Authorship change

Following Parish's death, children would send in fan letters asking about the continuation of the book series. Her nephew, Herman, felt uncomfortable to let her work be continued by someone not in the family. He then undertook authorship in 1995 with the full support of his family.
In 2009, Herman began writing books about Amelia Bedelia's own childhood experiences, starting with Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School, illustrated by Lynne Avril.

## List of books

| Author | Original series |
| Peggy Parish | Amelia Bedelia (1963) Thank You, Amelia Bedelia (1964) Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower (1966) Come Back, Amelia Bedelia (1971) Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia (1972) Good Work, Amelia Bedelia (1976) Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia (1977) Amelia Bedelia Helps Out (1979) Amelia Bedelia and the Baby (1981) Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping (1985) Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia (1986) Amelia Bedelia's Family Album (1988) |
| Author | Adult Amelia cont. | Amelia's childhood series |
| Herman Parish | Good Driving, Amelia Bedelia (1995) Bravo, Amelia Bedelia! (1997) Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor (1999) Calling Doctor Amelia Bedelia (2002) Amelia Bedelia and the Christmas List (2003) Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm (2003) Happy Haunting, Amelia Bedelia (2004) Amelia Bedelia Goes Back to School (2004) Be My Valentine, Amelia Bedelia (2005) Amelia Bedelia, Rocket Scientist? (2005) Amelia Bedelia Under Construction (2006) Amelia Bedelia's Masterpiece (2007) Amelia Bedelia and the Cat (2008) Amelia Bedelia Talks Turkey (2008) Amelia Bedelia Bakes Off (2010) Go West, Amelia Bedelia! (2011) Amelia Bedelia, Cub Reporter (2012) | Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School (2009) Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine (2009) Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie (2010) Amelia Bedelia's First Field Trip (2011) Amelia Bedelia Makes a Friend (2011) Amelia Bedelia's First Vote (2012) Amelia Bedelia Sleeps Over (2012) Amelia Bedelia Unleashed (2013) Amelia Bedelia Means Business (2013) Amelia Bedelia Hits the Trail (2013) Amelia Bedelia's First Library Card (2013) Amelia Bedelia Road Trip! (2013) Amelia Bedelia Tries her Luck (2013) Amelia Bedelia Joins the Club (2014) Amelia Bedelia Goes Wild (2014) Amelia Bedelia Shapes Up (2014) Amelia Bedelia Chalks One Up (2014) Amelia Bedelia Cleans Up (2015) Amelia Bedelia Is for the Birds (2015) Amelia Bedelia Sets Sail (2015) |

## Adaptations

Several theatre productions have been produced based on the series, including by the Serendipity Theatre Company in West Hollywood, California in 1994, the Omaha Theater for Young People in 2001, the San Diego Junior Theatre in 2002, the SCERA Theatre in Orem, Utah in 2008, and the Art Centre Theatre in Plano, Texas in 2011.
Universal Studios and Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman reportedly bought the rights to produce a live-action feature film adaptation of Amelia Bedelia in 2005, but the project never materialized.

## Popular culture

* There is a statue of Amelia Bedelia, the protagonist and title character of the series, in Peggy Parish's hometown of Manning, South Carolina.
* In 2021, an episode of This American Life featured a segment based on the character, reimagining her as working from home.