For almost fifty years, children have been reading about the hilarious adventures of Amelia Bedelia, the housekeeper so literal-minded she puts sponges in her sponge cake. Now, in a series of bestselling picture books, kids can discover what Amelia Bedelia was like when she was a little girl in elementary school. In Amelia Bedelia’s First Field Trip, a picture book with exuberant, brightly colored illustrations, Amelia Bedelia is going on a field trip with her class. She expects to see, well, a field. To her delight, she and her classmates arrive at a working farm! Amelia has a great time, although mishaps and misunderstandings are unavoidable. Her confusion over a green thumb, runner beans, and ponytails will give readers the giggles.
Author
Herman Parish is the author of Amelia Bedelia children's book series, nephew of original author, Peggy Parish. Having grown up with his aunt’s tales of Amelia’s humorous misadventures, Herman decided to carry on the legacy after his aunt’s death in 1988. He did not wish to entrust the future of the series into the hands of a children’s author outside of the family. Since Peggy had the summers off from teaching, she was able to stay with the Parish family for extended periods of time, allowing Herman and Peggy to develop a close relationship. More importantly, this gave Herman a chance to keenly observe Peggy during her writing processes, gaining great insight to the road ahead of him. To carry on the essence of the series, Herman thoroughly examined his aunt’s work and did his best to capture what exactly made the character of Amelia Bedelia such a hit. Having editor Susan Hirschman and illustrator Lynn Sweat in common with his aunt helped to make the transition. He has added thirteen more books to the series. Herman is a resident of Princeton, New Jersey, and travels to libraries and schools across the United States, speaking and inspiring young children. The importance of revising and editing is often stressed during these dynamic lectures. He has presented to students in more than 22 states. -Wikipedia ***The photo at left is of Herman with his aunt, Peggy Parish, in 1985.
