Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School

written by Herman Parish with pictures by Lynne Avril

Who doesn't remember Amelia Bedelia, the maid who took everything literally? The antics that had me in stitches as a kid have been brought into an environment familiar to younger children as we join a younger Amelia on her very first day of school. As always, she follows directions precisely...too precisely.

Her day starts when she takes a running start and JUMPS off the school bus, landing squarely on the gym teacher. At the end of the day, Amelia is the last to leave because she explicitly followed her teacher's directions and glued herself to her seat.

The illustrations do a great job of clarifying what could otherwise be a very confusing book for young children and are detailed enough to have even adults chuckling at Amelia's interpretations. The words and pictures combined could be used to introduce a language arts lesson on words and phrases with multiple meanings.

While I didn't find the same degree of absurdity in this 2007 follow-up to the series begun in 1963, I can imagine young children howling with laughter as Amelia Bedelia turns their familiar world upside-down simply by doing what she is told. I would love to read this to a kindergarten or first grade class and then watch them at recess to see what literal interpretations they could make! Harper-Collins, the publisher, also offers suggested activities for use in the classroom after reading this book.