Amelia Bedelia Under Construction: A Funny Picture Book About Home Renovation and Wordplay for Kids (Ages 4-8)

Amelia Bedelia #23

by Herman Parish, Lynn Sweat (Illustrator)

Caution! When Amelia Bedelia takes on a home renovation project, she adds her own funny touches, from sanding the deck with buckets of sand to pulling out the hammers to break ground!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Humor, Construction

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Herman Parish (born 1953) 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.

Reviews

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things get all messed up and goofy when Amelia Bedelia babysits for a lady who is expecting. An addition to the family, not an addition to the house ... which is what Amelia Bedelia acts on. Oops. You'll enjoy this one.

Reading Level: 1st - 3rd grades

Cleanliness: there is a picture of a boy in a tub with no clothes - nothing is shown.

[Jennifer (JenIsNotaBookSnob) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one feels like it is trying too hard. My daughter is obsessed with Amelia Bedelia and since she's got a cold this week I went ahead and checked out every Amelia Bedelia book currently at our library. I enjoy the early Amelia's, but, this one feels a bit desperate, like they were running out of ideas.

Good for kids who love the character, not that much fun for anyone else.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the wacky mixed up Amelia. In this story things go a muck when two construction workers show up at the wrong address.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a "Beginning Reader" book, this seemed to be awfully long. The narrative was simple enough and the illustrations were fun and colorful. And it was filled with all the typical misunderstandings you would expect in an Amelia Bedelia book. But this one just seemed to drag on and on and on. Our girls liked it and laughed out loud at some of the silliness within, but I was glad that for once, I wasn't reading it aloud (the girls' auntie was reading.) I would probably give it two stars, but as our girls liked it (and it is a children's book, after all), I'll give it three.

[DivaDiane SM · Rating 3 out of 5]

From reading some of the other reviews it seems as though this might not be the best offering of Amelia Bedelia. I never read any (that I remember) when I was a kid, but I think I might have found it hilarious loving puns, double entendre and plays on words like I do. But it is clearly geared toward slightly older kids who can read themselves or nearly. I'm pretty sure most of the "silliness" went right over my 4 year old's head. It was also extremely long and could've ended at any number of moments. And is Amelia Bedelia an adult or what? She just seems simple, which I hope is not the point.

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usual wacky Amelia Bedelia story where Amelia does crazy things because of her confusion between homonyms. Great book to use for introducing homonyms to young children in first/second grade. It could be used by second/third graders for an independent study of homonyms as it is a mid second grade reading level. They could then make a list of homonyms and their definitions.

[Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was far too long. We normally love Amelia Bedelia, but this just dragged on and on.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't read a Amelia Bedelia book in along time. Cute, whimsical tale of misunderstandings and truisms (board meeting=bored meeting)

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia Under Construction is a totally crazy book! Amelia has to babysit Angela and Andrew while their mom goes to the hospital for the new baby. But guess what? Construction workers show up at the wrong house and start building things! They find a list from the dad with crazy ideas like marble countertops and a sand deck.

My most favorite part is when they put marbles on the countertops because dad wants marble. They also draw a picture on a wall for a picture window. It's like a big mix-up party!

Amelia Bedelia is so funny, but sometimes I wonder if she got hit on the head with a hammer when she was born. She does things in a super silly way.

If you like books that make you laugh and shake your head, you'll like this one. It's full of weird and funny surprises. But seriously, my marble countertops aren't made of marbles!

This book is amazing, and I can't wait for you to see my full review on my YouTube channel.
https://youtu.be/T3ljex91Eos

[Elise Hymas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was really cool how the author of this book wanted to carry on the legacy of Amelia Bedelia that his aunt created. This book was funny and had a similar vibe to the original, but I wish the story made a bit more sense. I felt like it was trying too hard to be silly/it felt forced so I don’t think I’ll add this to my personal library.

[Mary Fletcher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kids that are young enough to be reading early readers won’t understand the double meanings in this book (board meetings, additions, labor, expecting, etc). This book was such a chore since I had to explain what was going on with every page.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids and I thought this book was pretty good! They didn't understand this one as much as "Amelia Bedelia Helps Out.

It's so hard to figure out what voice to use when reading this because the paragraphing is broken.

[Lynnette · Rating 3 out of 5]

classic Amelia Bedelia. she misunderstands words and gets into funny situations. not bad for older toddlers. my almost 3 year old thinks these books are funny. pictures are simplistic in the story is fine.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Amelia Bedelia, her stories are so cute and they never disappoint!

[Anna Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia is up to her normal antics, misunderstanding the different meaning of expecting an addition. Can it get anymore confusing. Can it get any funnier.

[Tiff Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun to read with my daughter a story I loved as a girl.

[Bryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read as part of my personal "Catch up on childhood classics" challenge.

How can everything go wrong, and yet still end up all right? Amelia Bedelia knows a lot of forgiving people.

[Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This shit was bananas. It's the craziest (and funniest) Amelia Bedelia book we've read so far.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super silly as always! I feel it had so much more story than some of the other books in this series! Loved it!!

[Gabs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Lonicocopuffs · Rating 1 out of 5]

Occasionally my favorite girl annoys me with her literal self and this was one of those annoying ones. It was very meh

[Sarah Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beginning Reader: Amelia Bedelia takes everything literally. She doesn’t understand that words can have double meaning. In this book she mistakenly remodels the house while the owners are away because they had said they were expecting an addition ( the wife was actually just pregnant)

[Katie Nanney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia never ceases to make me laugh. Her silly antics and misunderstanding about the English language always makes for a funny read. This story, she misinterprets addition like the addition of the house and addition, like when you have a child. I like that it points out the absurdity of the English language sometimes. Children can relate to the confusion that comes from words that mean multiple things. I believe I would like to have one copy of an Amelia Bedelia book in my classroom. It might help children who are struggling to understand that they aren't the only ones who have trouble.

[Rebecca Janda]

This book is about a character, Amelia Bedlia taking on a home renovation project. She adds a large amount of funny touches to this story.

I think this book is great, because it is hilarious! Children love funny books. When I was younger I read all the Amelia Bedelia books, because they were so silly and fun to read. Reading for pleasure and enjoyment helps children learn and remember more. I would suggest reading this book for first grade to third grade.

[Kokoro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like it! Amelia babysit two children.But, she have mistaken.She invited constraction people. Mr and Mrs Hardy got angry. Finally, Hardy's family and construction people,Bill and Eddie ate her dinner.Then smilled!

[Tollula · Rating 1 out of 5]

This my first time reading an Amelia Bedelia book and it is my last. This is a horrible series. I know as a child I wouldn't have liked this book at all. This lady should not be left in charge of children.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a terribly long book for my almost-second-grader to read on his own. We ended up taking turns, and he still lost interest about 2/3 of the way through. Some of the text was a bit funny. Some of the text was just a bit trying. Great illustrations, though.

[Quinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

REALLY punny. reading it to my ESL kids, kind of lost the humor on them. only one of my kids understands english puns (which is funny because hes behind a level than everyone else but he still gets jokes haha)
anyway, it was a nice happy funny read

[Zonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Amelia Bedelia craziness.

[Kaylee Gallup]

BEGINNING READER
Classic amelia bedelia always makes kids laugh! what a fun way to learn how to read!