Measure two cups of rice – she poured rice into two coffee cups, stacked them, and measured them with a tape measure.

Put the lights out when you finish in the living room – she took all the light bulbs out of their sockets and hung them on the clothesline.

Draw the drapes when the sun comes in – she drew a picture of the drapes.

Dust the furniture – she threw dusting powder onto the furniture (in her house 'they un-dust the furniture').

Change the towels in the green bathroom – she used scissors to cut and change the towels' appearance.

Īmelia's list of chores is copied below with her interpretations of each one: Amelia proceeds to take all the instructions literally: she dresses the chicken by fitting it into tiny clothes, draws the drapes by sketching them onto a piece of paper, dusts the furniture by covering it with cosmetic dusting powder, and puts the lights out by hanging lightbulbs on a clothesline.

Despite meaning well, she cannot seem to do anything right because she misinterprets the Rogers' instructions-many of which are idioms. Rogers gives Amelia a list of chores to complete while the couple go out for the day. Summary Īmelia Bedelia is hired as a maid for the wealthy Mr.

Herman Parish references this same idea in another interview about Amelia Bedelia, noting the importance of incorporating imagination and fun into books to engage children readers. In a 2013 interview, Herman Parish recalls how his aunt created Amelia Bedelia's character because of the need to target children of a certain age when they are both interested in reading and able to use their imagination without restraint. The inspiration for the protagonist was likely a housekeeper at her grandparents home where Peggy Parish played as a child.

2013 marked the book's 50th anniversary and commemorated its popularity with the publication of a new line of Amelia Bedelia books.

Over 35 million copies of books in the series have been sold. Amelia Bedelia has been referenced for its use of language and portrayal of gender norms. The idea for the book came from a former housekeeper as well as Peggy's third-grade students at the Dalton School in Manhattan who tended to confuse vocabulary, often with comic results. It was written by Peggy Parish, illustrated by Fritz Siebel, and published by Harper and Row in 1963. Amelia Bedelia is the first book in the popular Amelia Bedelia children's picture book series about a housekeeper who takes her instructions literally.

Peggy parish books