Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie
By Herman Parish
Illustrator Lynne Avril
Publisher HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York 2010
ISBN 0061964093

The original Amelia Bedelia books were written by Peggy Parish, the first published in 1963. Following her death in 1988 her nephew Herman Parish decided to continue them, with his first being published in 1995.

The range of Amelia Bedelia books includes early readers, but this particular book is for more skilled readers, or for an adult to share with children. Amelia tends to take things literally, so discussion on the dual meaning of some words is necessary with younger children.

In Amelia Bedelia’s First Apple Pie Amelia is visiting her grandparents, and she and her grandfather are working in the garden. Granddad tells her to watch her step, and Amelia gets dizzy looking down at her feet while walking.

Grandma asks them to go to the farmers’ market for some apples to make a pie. This provides a learning opportunity for the reader as well as Amelia, as a double-page spread is included that shows a range of apple varieties.

Back home again, Amelia and her grandmother prepare the ingredients for the apple pie, and more misunderstandings occur. Grandma asks Amelia to get her “a little flour” and Amelia picks a flower she sees in a pot on the windowsill. Grandma tells her to “watch your fingers” when she is rolling out the dough, so Amelia lifts her hands and watches her fingers very carefully, wondering what that has to do with making a pie. For a sensible Grandma, she then makes an unwise choice and puts the baked pie outside to cool, where the birds destroy it, and they are left with the single small pie Amelia Bedelia has made, which the family shares when her parents arrive.

The relationship between Amelia Bedelia and her grandparents is relaxed and caring, and it provides a good example of the freedom some retired grandparents can have to spend time with their grandchildren. Teaching them gardening and baking are two positive examples, and with this book the recipe for the apple pie is included at the back.

Further discussion on this book is available on a number of book review sites, including

http://booksforkidsblog.blogspot.co.nz/2010/10/pastry-practice-amelia-bedelias-first.html