Origin-Story of Literal-Minded Ninny Fails to Impress

Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School by Herman Parish, Illus. Lynne Avril (Greenwillow Books, 2009, 32pp.)

This book chronicles the literal-minded Amelia Bedelia’s first day at school. Her humorous misadventures are sure to be somewhat entertaining: her teacher tells her to glue herself to her seat, the bus driver tells her to jump off the bus, the librarian encourages her to bury her nose in a book, all of which she interprets literally. While it is an admirable effort, and not a bad picture book by any means, it certainly isn’t a dazzling one either. The situations that the author chose for Amelia Bedelia to misinterpret are predictable and not really that interesting. Compared to the original series, Amelia Bedelia the child is not nearly as compelling as Amelia Belia the adult. Recommended for Ages 4-8.

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