Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm: A Classic and Charming Book About Literal Language for Kids (Ages 4-8)

Amelia Bedelia #17

by Herman Parish, Lynn Sweat (Illustrator)

Amelia Bedelia is helping out at the library!

She may not know the difference between a stegosaurus and a thesaurus, but Amelia Bedelia will go to any lengths to make reading fun.

Ages 4 – 8

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Humor, Books About Books, Classics, Chapter Books

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

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

[Cindy aka "The Book Fairy"]

Read this awhile back when my kids were young; a laughable tale of the dear maid who takes everything literally :) Marvelous kid's books!

[Zoë]

[Book #33 for my grad school Children's Lit class]

[Katja Labonté]

3 stars. This book is very punny, and I think it goes over the heads of most little kids. As an adult, I enjoyed it more because of understanding the jokes better. It was a classic Amy Bedy type of story though, which my little siblings appreciate. And it makes me want to go to the library!

[Ebookwormy1]

We love Amelia Bedelia! No one illustrates that perplexing difference between figurative and literal that often confounds young children. Amelia's literal response to puny encounters is both hilarious and educational - about language and humor! This title, and the others in this highly recommended series, are kept on our forever bookshelves -- delightful for all ages!

[Courtney]

I loved Amelia Bedelia growing up and now I enjoy reading her stories to my children!!

[Maya Epstein]

Cute! I loved Amelia Bedelia when I was little(r). It was was fun to revisit her.

[Victoria]

A cute story, but many of the puns that are meant to amuse children were abstruse and outdated.

[Jessica]

Love having an Amelia Bedelia book set in a library

[Elizabeth]

Amelia Bedelia is eager to volunteer at her local library. Literal as usual, she confuses giving Mark a book and giving him a bookmark. Amelia also learns the difference between a thesaurus and a stegosaurus. Still, Amelia goes to great lakes to help out the library patrons and to make reading fun.

I would recommend Amelia Bedelia, Bookmark as an easy reader to primary grade students. Amelia's character is comical, yet kind. Amelia Bedelia is a pleasure to read and useful when teaching wordplay. Students may also like meeting Herman Parish's younger version of Amelia in Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School.

[Christine]

I read this today with my 7 year old book buddy. It was great fun as usual to see how mixed up Amelia Bedelia can get, this time in the library. As well as being a great book to read aloud, it also shows what a great place the library can be.

[Charlotte]

The book is funny and the dog was cute.

[Rebeca Sanchez]

Amelia Bedelia is introduced as a maid of the Roger household, and in this book she goes to the local library. She spends most of her time at the library and mainly messes up everything with her literal sense. For example, when the librarian said the books needed sweaters Amelia made actual sweaters for the books. She causes a ruckus in places faster than a cheetah racing his prey. Amelia is a volunteer in this book when she misunderstands everything that is said when the librarian tries to clarify everything that is said. Mrs. Page- the librarian- is later surprised when Amelia steals away in the bookmobile while she was trying to "fix" everything that was messed up.

I never thought that a "literal" book would be such a fun read with the main character doing all the things a child would do. The series overall is goofy and friendly from Parish's perspective of Amelia's actions and behaviors. I enjoyed the book overall with Amelia trying to help her library community, she's able to charm the librarian and kids from her "childish" nature. From the book's colorful illustrations and light humor, I would recommend this book to primary grades for pure enjoyment or even a lesson.

[Ariel]

Amelia Bedelia Bookworm is a wild book! Miss Paige and others want the library boss to love the library, but Amelia goes crazy. She helps kids and drives the bookmobile to a store, oops! Amelia's mix-ups are even bigger now.

My favorite part is when Miss Paige finds out a book about training dogs got eaten. But not by a real dog—by the book's character, a dog named Sam! So silly!

Amelia's always funny, but this time she's extra crazy. If you like big laughs and big mix-ups, this book is for you. It's a fun ride full of surprises and giggles!

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

[Anne Patkau]

Amelia is the same bouncy happy housekeeper, flowery hat, ruffled apron, here surrounded by library books and summer shorts, T-shirts on child readers, by the original illustrator Sweat. Original series author Parish kept word play simple, easy. Now, her nephew Herman goes on less clear tangents I tried to follow but have lost interest.

[Melissa Namba]

I want to say that I love it, but I don't. it is a good book and I'm glad that the series has expanded. however, some of the jokes seem tired. and when things are clarified they aren't really explained.

[Leigh]

This doesn't read with the old charm of other Amelia Bedlia books. It reads like it might be newer. At any rate her quirks and willingness to do things exactly as stated is extremely heavy handed, passing into cringe level cheese.

[earlgray]

I mean, it wasn’t awful, but the plot and storyline could have been so much better—at least a BIT more organized. I had no idea what was happening when and why it was happening. The transitions were nonexistent. I did however enjoy the library setting and the blunt jokes. SO MUCH BLUNTNESS.

[Mari]

Am I glad to see you.
I give up. Are you glad to see me?

These books needed jackets, so I made a jacket for each one.

Here is your book, Mark.
Yippee, free bookmarks for everyone.

Be as quiet as you can. I want to hear a pin drop.
Okay. She threw her pen on the floor.

[Madeline Clements]

Amelia Bedelia is a classic from my childhood. This book is funny and teaches children not to take things so literally.

[Pamela Powell]

Amelia is back with her usual penchant for taking everything literally, from a book Mark to "throw the book at you" she creates mayhem but also fun with books.

[Jessie Drew]

Cute book. Helps introduce the idea of that words can have multiple meanings.

[Katie Solt]

This was such cute book

[Lizzie-Anne]

Just reread this for my nephew and he loves it just as much as I did when I was his age. Still as funny and heartwarming as ever!

[Mama Smith]

Funny but again above my smart 5 year olds head in terms of puns.

[Angie Carter]

Thought I would like this one more. Gave to my great neice.

[Mary]

Erin and I always got a kick out of Amelia Bedelia, though I think I may have picked up this one more recently!

[Erynn]

I got this book signed by the author!

[Story]

This definitely wasn't my favorite Amelia Bedelia book. I felt it was longer than necessary and didn't really hold our attention. Not bad but I don't feel the need to read it again.

[Grace Lynch]

That bookmark pin though. That was funny!

[Vinod Jayachandran]

Yet again , Amelia Bedelia ends up doing something silly and ends up helping others.