Amelia Bedelia is the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

and

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

of a series of American

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

s that were written by

Peggy Parish Margaret Cecile "Peggy" Parish (July 14, 1927 – November 19, 1988) was an American writer known best for the children's book series and fictional character Amelia Bedelia. Parish was born in Manning, South Carolina attended the University of ...

from 1963 until her death in 1988, and by her nephew,

Herman Herman may refer to: People * Herman (name), list of people with this name * Saint Herman (disambiguation) * Peter Noone (born 1947), known by the mononym Herman Places in the United States * Herman, Arkansas * Herman, Michigan * Herman, Min ...

, beginning in 1995. They have been illustrated by

Wallace Tripp Wallace Whitney Tripp (June 26, 1940 – September 9, 2018) was an American illustrator, anthologist and author. He was known for creating anthropomorphic animal characters of emotional complexity and for his great visual and verbal humor. He ...

Fritz Siebel Frederick "Fritz" Siebel (December 19, 1913 – December 1991) was an Austrian American illustrator, well known for his award winning World War II poster "Someone Talked" and his illustrations for the children's book Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish ...

, and the two current illustrators, Lynn Sweat and Lynne Avril. In 1992

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

republished the three original stories (''

Amelia Bedelia Amelia Bedelia is the protagonist and title character of 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, beginning in 1995. They have been illustrated by W ...

''; ''Thank You, Amelia Bedelia''; and ''Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower'') with illustrations by Fritz's daughter, Barbara Siebel Thomas. There is a statue of Amelia Bedelia in

Manning, South Carolina Manning is a city in and the county seat of Clarendon County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 4,108 as of the 2010 census, with an estimated population in 2018 of 3,941. It was named after former South Carolina governor John L ...

, Peggy Parish's hometown. Many of the books are published as part of the

I Can Read! I Can Read! is a line of beginning reading books published by HarperCollins. The series is rated by level and is widely used to teach children to read English. The first book in the series was Else Holmelund Minarik's '' Little Bear'', published ...

series, levels 1 and 2.

Premise

The stories involve Amelia Bedelia's repeatedly misunderstanding various commands of her employer by taking

figures of speech A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from ordinary language use in order to produce a rhetorical effect. Figures of speech are traditionally classified into '' schemes,'' which vary the ordinary ...

and various terminology

literally ''Literally'' is an English adverb. It has been controversially used as an intensifier for figurative statements. History The first known use of the word ''literally'' was in the 15th century, or the 1530s, when it was used in the sense of "in ...

, 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. 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".

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 Averill.

List of books

Adaptations

Several

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

productions have been produced based on the series, including by the Serendipity Theatre Company in

West Hollywood, California West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most ...

in 1994, the Omaha Theater for Young People in 2001, the San Diego Junior Theatre in 2002, the SCERA Theatre in

Orem, Utah Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the northern part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Lindon, and Vineyard and is approximately south of Salt Lake City. Orem is one of the principal cities of the Provo-Orem, Utah Me ...

in 2008, and the Art Centre Theatre in

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Hist ...

in 2011.

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

and

Playtone Playtone (stylized on-screen as PLAY•TONE; a.k.a. The Playtone Company) is an American film and television production company established in 1998 by actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman. It was named after the fictional record company ...

partners

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

and

Gary Goetzman Gary Michael Goetzman (born November 6, 1952) is an American film and television producer and actor, and co-founder of the production company Playtone with actor Tom Hanks. Life and career Born in Los Angeles, Goetzman began his career as a chi ...

reportedly bought the rights to produce a

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

feature film adaptation of Amelia Bedelia in 2005, but the project never materialized. In 2021, an episode of ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internation ...

'' featured a segment based on the character, reimagining her as working from home.

References

External links

Amelia Bedelia Books Official Website
{{Authority control Children's fiction books American children's book series Literary characters introduced in 1963 Fictional maids American children's books Learning to read