Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine: A Funny Valentine Story Full of Literal Laughs for Children

Young Amelia Bedelia

by Herman Parish, Lynne Avril (Illustrator)

The New York Times bestselling picture book! It's Valentine's Day in young Amelia Bedelia's classroom. And you know Amelia Bedelia—she wears her heart on her sleeve. The second book in the nationally bestselling series about the childhood of America's favorite literal-minded housekeeper. School is always exciting for Amelia Bedelia, and getting her first Valentine's Day card may be the most exciting surprise of all. But what will she do when she forgets her valentines for her classmates on the bus? Luckily, Amelia Bedelia is resourceful, and she doesn't break any hearts. A lovely pick for Valentine's Day—or any day— Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine will have readers making room in their hearts for this charmingly literal little girl.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, Humor, Fiction, Love, School

32 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2009

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

[Tyler Replogle · Rating 5 out of 5]

My six year old said this one gets 5 stars because the boy blow a kiss to her, so it’s a love story.

[Earl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Family members shouldn't try to make money off their dead relatives' claim to fame. This lacked the charm of the original stories.

[Ham · Rating 1 out of 5]

The illustrations were fine, but the story was horrible. I remember liking the original Amelia Bedelia books, but these younger Amelia books are beyond tedious. The figures of speech felt really forced. (Who still says "You're wearing your heart on your sleeve?" Ack.) But my biggest beef with this stupid book was that when reading out loud to your children, you're forced to say the characters entire stupid name every time. Has Herman every heard pronouns? Yes, the name has a fun sound. But not after you say it fourteen times on every page. AAAAUUUGHHH. I will be avoiding these books like the plague.

[Bridget R. Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia is excited about Valentine's Day. She has cards for all her friends even though she doesn't quite understand the messages (Nuts 4 You, Sealed with a Kiss). Disaster strikes when she leaves her cards on the bus. Amelia Bedelia thinks on her feet and puts some playing cards to good use.

What I thought: Amelia Bedelia is delightful as always. I love how she takes everything literally. This story will be great for a school age Valentine's Day story time.

Craft Idea: Have the kids make valentines out of playing cards like Ameila Bedelia does.

[Cheryll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute book! Fun to see what Amelia Bedelia was like as a child. She was warm-hearted, sweet, silly, and took things literally of course.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The play on words in Amelia Bedelia books is a hard concept for little children to understand. Cute idea to put Amelia Bedelia in picture book form but it was still beyond my 4 year old.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute book in the Amelia Bedelia series. I used to read this series in chapter books when I was little, so I enjoy reading the picture book series with my daughter. This book focuses on Valentine's Day. I liked how the mom and dad interacted in this book and I love how Amelia Bedelia doesn't understand all the "sayings" in the book, like when her mom says "all of the above" to the options her dad gives for Valentine's gifts, and Amelia thinks she wants a lightbulb.

The illustrations were fun and colorful, yet still soft. It was a great length for a bedtime book. I just really enjoyed this one. More so than other Valentine's books I've read in the past.

[Emma House · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite book. It's about a girl who writes valentines card's for her classmates and she ends up forgetting them at home, so she writes new ones on a deck of cards her mom had given her. Her dad teaches her about cupid, and so she is looking for him all day at school.
I feel like it is a good book to read around valentines day, but I know there are better ones out there.
(3.2 reading level)

[Elizabeth Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

never thought of Amelia Bedelia being young, she was a lot older than a child, when i 1st read her reads??! i never knew there were books of Amelia Bedelia when she was young?? this is the only book for Herman Parish in KU ...that's extremely SAD ... i loved these book as a kid ... i mean really loved, i made a point to get to the library and get them as often as i could. so good. made me smile.

[Charlotte S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia had so much fun making Valentine's Day cards for her friends at school! She can't wait to give them away. But when she forgets the cards on the school bus, what will she do? Amelia Bedelia books are so fun and sweet! I love the illustrations, too! Follow @bronteandwilder on Instagram for more fun book recommendations!

[Jordyn Tinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book had cute images and I could tell that a lot of thought went into the book. It displayed what Valentine's Day truly was for kids in elementary school. I could relate to the book because that's how I celebrated Valentine's Day in elementary school.

[Charity Rau · Rating 3 out of 5]

So now there’s books about Amelia Bedelia as a kid... this was cute, but not as funny as the original Amelia Bedelia books because it’s actually believable for a little kid to take everything literally whereas it’s not so believable for a grown woman to take everything literally.

[Kenzie Dye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book! I think it is a great book to bring into the classroom for Valentine’s Day. Amelia takes every saying way too seriously and I think it could make for a lot of class discussions.

[Set · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe that it's important to note that only 2% of Americans are natural blonds. And Amelia Bedelia is one of our few beloved brunette representation; albeit, because she was a maid but nevertheless. It's a disappointment that they've made her a redhead.

[skcocnaH · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was cute enough, but there was a problematic couple of lines: the bus driver says, “Come on, slowpoke. You’re holding us up.” That’s an easy way to ensure that kid is gonna have low self esteem.

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young Amelia has a confusing day on February 14th.

The story is cute enough, but Lynne Auril's illustrations are the best part.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended ages 4-8. Amelia Bedelia as a child, taking things literally.

[amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia's antics never get old.

[Story · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute, so much character comes through and the illustrations make it come to life. Highly recommend

[Aprilswritings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute book. My 6-year old daughter loved it! we listened to the audiobook on Scribd.

[Brenda Quispe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first time reading my boys this book series. There is such a fun play with words. There were a lot of giggles. I will be checking out more Amelia Bedelia books!

[Peacegal · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars -- While these new books lack the laugh-out-loud appeal of the original series, this is a light and harmless Valentine's Day tale that will find a home in classrooms around the holiday.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia is relentlessly literal, which drives me a little crazy, but my sweet 4yo girl loves her.

[The Book Box]

Mama and I read this before bed the other night.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story for kids. Loved all the idioms and how Amelia took them literally. Clever.

[Rosella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the original series, but still pleasant.

[Emily Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illustrations are cute and it might be more enjoyable if it weren’t Amelia Bedelia. Her confusion with everyday phrases in this book is nowhere near as well done as in the original stories.

[Kara Harte (KattitudeReads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the ‘Amelia Bedelia’ books as a kid, and it was so much fun to read these new stories about Young Amelia Bedelia with my niece. Cute, quick read.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always love Amelia Bedelia!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really cute and I liked how resourceful Amelia Bedelia was when she found out she left her valentines on the bus. Read this with the kids at school and they really liked it!