Amelia Bedelia by the Yard

by Herman Parish, Lynne Avril (Illustrator)

Learn to read with young Amelia Bedelia! The Amelia Bedelia books are great for growing the vocabularies of newly independent readers. Amelia Bedelia by the Yard is a funny story about community, family, and helping out, and it stars Amelia Bedelia as a young girl. More than 35 million Amelia Bedelia books sold since 1963!

Amelia Bedelia’s parents are holding a yard sale—but Amelia Bedelia loves playing in her yard, and she doesn’t want to sell it! Luckily, her mother promises they will only sell things in the yard. When one neighbor wishes she could buy the flowers, Amelia Bedelia fetches a shovel to dig some up. After all, a yard will always grow back! A Level 1 I Can Read book featuring the childhood of America’s favorite housekeeper, Amelia Bedelia!

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction, Family

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2016

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

[معصومه توکلی · Rating 3 out of 5]

چی می‌شد باز شش سالم می‌شد و دوباره شگفتی سوادآموزی را تجربه می‌کردم؟

[Cindy Meadows]

Easy Reader 2
Amelia Bedelia by the Yard - 2016
Amelia Bedelia is so silly! Her parents have decided to have a yard sale and she misunderstands and thinks that means they are going to sell their yard! Her mom reassures her that they aren’t going to sell the yard only things in the yard. Amelia Bedelia still doesn’t fully understand so when her neighbor wishes she had the flowers, Amelia start to dig up the flowers with her shovel.

The original Amelia Bededila are often favorites among children and I have found this series about her as a child equally appealing. They are very funny and children can easily relate to not always understanding things because of a lack of experience.

App Selection:
Montessori Crosswords
Price: $2.99
Grade level: Kindergarten and up
Skill: Phonics, Spelling, Vocabulary
Available for Android and IOS
Phonics, spelling and vocabulary app for multiple ages Younger children can practice connecting phonetic sounds to letters. As children grow they can practice spelling and increase their vocabulary with fun puzzles. Crossword puzzle levels begin with one sound words then move to words with consonant blend, and increase in difficulty.

[Ms Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia books are fabulous!
This story is fun for children to read! They will easily relate to some (if not all) of the mix- ups or play on words. What a silly way for new readers to improve their vocabulary. I love the animated illustrations which help tell the story.
Amelia Bedelia is concerned about her parents having a 'yard sale'! What!! Sell the yard?? She loves her 'yard' and doesn't want to sell it! Her mother explains we are not selling the yard but 'the things in the yard'. Ok... 🤣
So when a lady wants to buy a 'yard stick' and some of her mother's flowers, well, she finds a stick and digs up some flowers. Lols! This book is full of these silly misunderstandings. Enjoy!
You will also find this story as a read aloud on my YouTube channel Storytime with Ms Kim !

[Anna Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with Cecilia 6 feb 2024

Amelia and her family are having a yard sale to get rid of all the stuff they don't need. This will include some of the things her mom has gotten at other garage sales. Amelia has some comical misunderstanding about what exactly is included in a yard sale.... plants in the yard too.

[Morgan Castro]

This book is a very appropriate beginning reader for children. It has minimal text on each page, engaging illustrations, and also includes literal and figurative expressions that children would benefit from learning as Amelia Bedelia also learns them while helping her parents with a yard sale.

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the original series as a kid. Amelia as a little girl isn't the character I remember, but the books retain their goofy, gentle charm. Young readers will be giggling along with the story.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute story to read to children, shows how funny the English language is and how weird some expressions are in the minds of children.

[Robin Rockman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not an Amelia Bedelia fan... especially of the early readers. I guess it's just me...

[Lila Lovebug · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this to Mommy.

[Kelly Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super cute book

[Rikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

My five year old enjoyed this book. We had a good laugh at how silly Amelia is when she misunderstands what people are saying.

[Molly Ritterbeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

The irony of Amelia Bedelia, is I have a very literal kid as well. She laughs at these stories, but they are her to a "T" and I can't wait for her to realize this :)

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up with Peggy Parish's Amelia Bedelia books, and I'm happy to see new versions on the shelves. The illustrations are bright and whimsical, and the story is fun and teaches about what "things" are truly important.

[Rhyme Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Amelia Bedelia books, they are really fun!!

[Holly Letson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia's misunderstandings of simple things in this book are really silly, but borderline annoying as well. Other than that, it's a decent story with decent audio.