Amelia Bedelia

This is the third in a series of posts about Children’s Book Week. You can read earlier posts here and here.

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In spite of all the problems she causes, it’s hard not to love Amelia Bedelia. Her antics have been amusing children (and their parents) since 1963, when Peggy Parish wrote the original story of the well-meaning maid who often misunderstood what other people meant and created all kinds of problems.

When I opened the cover of the book to find the copyright date, I got such a kick out of the incredibly succinct Library of Congress summary: “A literal-minded housekeeper causes a ruckus in the household when she attempts to make sense of some instructions.”

Ruckus indeed.

On her first day of work as the housekeeper for Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, Amelia Bedelia diligently worked her way through the to-do list they left for her, but unfortunately, she took everything literally.

She changed the towels.

She dusted the living room (with dusting powder).

When she finished drawing the drapes, she followed instructions to “put the lights out when you finish in the living room.” So she unscrewed the light bulbs and aired them out. “Just like pillows and babies,” she concluded.

Not surprisingly, Mrs. Rogers was angry when she got home and discovered all the problems that her new housekeeper had caused. She had even dressed the chicken! (Aren’t those overalls funny?)

But before Mrs. Rogers could fire her for incompetence, Mr. Rogers stuffed a bite of Amelia Bedelia’s fresh lemon meringue pie into Mrs. Rogers’ mouth.

The pie was so good that they decided Amelia Bedelia could continue to work as their housekeeper.

I think it’s somewhat unfortunate that it’s a woman in a service role who is portrayed as lacking intelligence, but of course this story is about so many other themes — double meanings in the English language; communication and misunderstandings; grace, forgiveness, and second chances; compensating for skills you lack; and maybe even about food’s ability to short-circuit rational thinking. 🙂