Amelia Bedelia, Rocket Scientist?

Amelia Bedelia #22

by Herman Parish, Lynn Sweat (Illustrator)

AMELIA BEDELIA, ROCKET SCIENTIST?Level-2

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Science, Classics, Humor

64 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2015

About the author

Herman Parish (born 1953) is the author of Amelia Bedelia children's book series, nephew of original author, Peggy Parish. Having grown up with his aunt’s tales of Amelia’s humorous misadventures, Herman decided to carry on the legacy after his aunt’s death in 1988. He did not wish to entrust the future of the series into the hands of a children’s author outside of the family. Since Peggy had the summers off from teaching, she was able to stay with the Parish family for extended periods of time, allowing Herman and Peggy to develop a close relationship. More importantly, this gave Herman a chance to keenly observe Peggy during her writing processes, gaining great insight to the road ahead of him. To carry on the essence of the series, Herman thoroughly examined his aunt’s work and did his best to capture what exactly made the character of Amelia Bedelia such a hit. Having editor Susan Hirschman and illustrator Lynn Sweat in common with his aunt helped to make the transition. He has added thirteen more books to the series. Herman is a resident of Princeton, New Jersey, and travels to libraries and schools across the United States, speaking and inspiring young children. The importance of revising and editing is often stressed during these dynamic lectures. He has presented to students in more than 22 states.

-Wikipedia

***The photo at left is of Herman with his aunt, Peggy Parish, in 1985.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think how weird and not nice these books are. Everyone treats Amelia horribly.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia Rocket Scientist is an out-of-this-world book! Amelia helps Mrs. Edwards for a science fair. She and Mr. Dinglebat, the judge, don't get along. But guess what? His hair flies off when her Flying Saucer starts!

Then, he makes the "Tip Topper" to warn when he's mad. It's funny because a hair goes up when he's angry. That'd be cool for all of us!

And at the end, Amelia wins with her lemon pie! Mr. Rogers brings it, and it's her secret formula. Citric acid, water, cornstarch, okras, and sodium chloride—sounds tricky!

If you love funny experiments and surprises, this book is perfect. It's full of science fun and silly moments. Get ready to laugh and maybe make your own tip topper!

This book is amazing, and I can't wait for you to see my full review on my YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/T3ljex91Eos

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

This time, Amelia Bedelia's adventures include the school science fair, an exploding volcano, and even some UFOs.

The tone is set right on the very first page. Mr. Rogers asks Amelia Bedelia:

"Who is the rocket scientists
who put my glasses in the dishwasher?"

She replies, "I am."
And "Thank you for promoting me."

Cute, right?

Then she wisecracks, "You told me to wash all of the glasses."

HERE WE GO!

Part cheeky, part corny, this story displays its own distinctive charm.

For instance, once she arrives at school, Amelia tells herself:

"He promoted me from housekeeper
to rocket scientist
just in time for the science fair."

FIVE STARS to author Herman Parish, with special appreciation to artist Lynn Sweat. Those illustrations are so lively, yet soothing; and the colors are lovely.

[Megan Hosinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Grade Level: 3-5
This is a really fun book to read! Amelia Bedelia is a interesting and entertaining character, and some of the things she says in this book are really funny, such as her thinking the "make-up test" was an actual test of Miss Edwards' make-up on her face and not a test the children were making up. I like how there is a lot of science incorporated in this book, as the children are having a science fair. I also liked how some language and history was in this book, with the origin of the word "eureka" being explained and used throughout the story. I think the ending was exciting, with the volcano exploding and then Dr. Dinglebatt acknowledging Amelia Bedelia as a rocket scientist and chemist. Really good book!

[Arminzerella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia misinterprets her employer's comment as a promotion (from maid to rocket scientist!) and, proudly embracing her new role, sets off to help out at the school science fair. Whenever she gets something wrong or confused, people gently and kindly explain what is meant, and all seems to be going well until she accidentally blows the toupee off the judge's head! Oops! Who will judge the projects now? It all ends well. Another fun Amelia Bedelia story - kids will delight in her misadventures!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been years since I read an Amelia Bedelia book, but we went to a children's story event at the library for the series so I thought we would try it. This was a little funny, but I don't know if it registered when I was a kid how mean people were to Amelia Bedelia! That said, this was written by Peggy Parish's nephew, so not part of the original series, but it actually became a good conversation about how we should talk to people.

[Janyl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Edwards the science teacher needs help at the science fair. Amelia Bedelia rushes to the school to help out. This book is full of the funny and silly things that Amelia Bedelia does. A volcano erupts at the science fair. A scientist looses his hair. Amelia Bedelia always seems to be in the middle of these situations. Great book for young readers.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia gets a promotion to rocket scientist and helps out at the science fair.

[Isla · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was really funny.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

My students who read this book really enjoyed it and thought it was funny!

[Whitney · Rating 1 out of 5]

My daughter loves Amelia Bedelia, and I think she is kind of magical. This one felt mean spirited.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia help out at school with a science fair. She has more of her charming misadventures and another triumphant ending.

[Lonicocopuffs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how Amelia understands that after each exertive day, one needs amazing food to remain functional and sane!

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

"She is so funny! I like Science, so I enjoyed this book."

[Diana Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter read this to me and wanted me to type her review so here goes:

Good things: I loved the way Amelia Bedelia makes so many mistakes and the word Eureka is so funny to me, I liked reading the word over and over. I liked the name Dr. Dinglebat too. It was funny how the guy was in the tub.

Bad things: I didn't like how Amelia Bedelia poured all the baking soda inside the volcano. She should have left it alone.

Okay, so I enjoyed hearing my daughter read this to me. It seems like a fun book however, because of the length, I found that we were getting distracted by other things because the book was slowly becoming tedious to read. I did laugh a few times which is always a good sign.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Amelia Bedelia books when I was younger especially Teach Us Amelia Bedelia and Amelia Bedelia and the Baby. This latest series of books are actually written by Peggy Parish's nephew since she passed away in 1988. I am interested in going back to the older ones by Peggy P. to see how they compare to these by Herman P. I never realized how short Amelia Bedelia's hair was! (She uses her maid's bonnet to "help out" a student in the science fair with his experiment.)

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Illustrator: Lynn Sweat
Age: 4-8
Summary: Amelia Bedelia is asked to help out with a science fair and takes everything very literally as she usually does.
Applications/Uses: If students are competing in a science fair they could read this story for fun, Amelia is always a good place to start when talking about the different meanings of words- many activities can be done with it and when students are learning that some words have more than one meaning, Amelia Bedelia might be a good place to start.
Themes/Connections: Vocabulary words, science fair, humor
Awards: None

[Mandi · Rating 1 out of 5]

After we got a few pages in to this story, I had to turn back to the front cover to see who had written it. I knew right away that this could not possibly be the work of Peggy Parish, and sure enough, I was right. All I can say is that her nephew should not have tried to continue on her work. This was horribly written. The conversations were disjointed and contrived, with none of the charm of the original Amelia Bedelia books that I so loved as a child. I will definitely be checking for Peggy Parish's name from now on before checking these out from our library.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

26 months - my daughter has enjoyed the last two Amelia books we've read but not this one. She lost interest an walked away halfway through and I don't blame her, I was bored with it too. Just not very well written, long, boring, and Amelia come across as ignorant when she takes someone literally. In other stories we've read she seem innocently unaware of the double meanings and learns as she goes along which makes the stories cute and funny.

[Matt Mazenauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peggy Parish has died, so her nephew has taken over writing? I won't judge the morals, just the writing. Which is average. Amelia is cute no matter how hard you stretch the plot. This isn't quite "Amelia Bedelia on the Moon" or anything, and I understand you run out of maid/housekeeping puns pretty quick, so I forgive the semi-random setting.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Standard Amelia Bedelia zaniness, with plenty of puns. This one is a little longer than average; I gave it an extra star for engaging kids in science topics. I never know what age is best for these, younger kids (6 or so) will appreciate them, but they probably won't get the jokes until they are older (maybe 9?).

[Ratforcekids]

Amelia Bedelia, Rocket Scientist by Herman Parish is an upper 2nd grade level book that follows housekeeper Amelia when she volunteers for a school science project—and wreaks havoc. The Amelia Bedelia stories are humorous fiction.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could be good for a classroom library
or a read outloud during a day the students do a science project.
2-3rd grade

[Cimani · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you like science fairs well this book is about mad scientists,homemade volcanoes,unidentified flying,and bonnets..... take cover!!! Amelia Bedelia is at the school sciece fair!!!!!!

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no one like Amelia Bedial to get things totally confused and still come out fine!

[Kapra McMichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia takes everything so literally. In this book, Amelia volunteers at a school science fair. This book is an entertaining book for kids.

[Laurie Petersen]

Herman Parish picks up where Peggy Parish left off, and it seems seamless to me. --Laurie

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia helps out at the science fair at school, where she proves she is actually a chemist! Because cooking is actually chemistry . . .

Fun. Read with Drew, September 2012.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remembering my hatred of Amelia Bedelia now.

[Glenn Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this book that much. This book was too long and not really engaging.