Who doesn’t love Amelia Bedelia? My kids always have, and I also enjoy her punny misunderstandings. I am most familiar with the “I Can Read” line of books, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a new picture book featuring a young schoolgirl Amelia: Amelia Bedelia’s First Field Trip by Herman Parish and illustrated by Lynne Avril (I actually found out there were quite a few Amelia Bedelia’s First picture books).
The artwork is colorful and beautiful, and the text will reach out and grab kids’ and adults’ attention.
Sometimes adult Amelia’s misunderstandings would go over my little one’s heads (even though they still thought she was funny). This little Amelia’s confusion at her field trip to a farm are much more relatable. For example:
- Amelia tries to see the farmer’s Mrs. Dinkins green thumb.
- She disagrees that the rooster is a “loudmouth” since they have beaks not mouths.
- Potato eyes, ears of corn and heads of lettuce all gave Amelia great pictures in her head.
Amelia Bedelia’s First Field Trip has a lot of text and would be perfect to share with kids with longer attention spans, especially if you want to prepare them for a field trip, or draw out some similarities to Amelia’s trip and their own farm visit, which is a common field trip.
Jennifer went on one preschool field trip and checked it off her list forever. She blogs at Snapshot.
I have always loved Amelia Bedelia books. When I taught ESOL, the students loved them because they could relate to her misunderstandings. I didn’t know about this book. It is time I introduce my grandkids to them.