Amelia Bedelia Helps Out

Amelia Bedelia #8

by Peggy Parish, Lynn Sweat (Illustrator)

A neighbor needs Amelia Bedelia's helping hands, so everyone's favorite housekeeper is off to Miss Emma's house for a day of work. She makes a merry mess, then feeds delectable desserts. Amelia shows her niece Effie Lou how to follow instructions to the letter as they dust the potato bugs and sew seeds.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction, Humor, Classics, Juvenile, Kids

63 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Peggy Parish was the author of the children's story series Amelia Bedelia. The series was continued, after her sudden death from an aneurysm, by her nephew Herman Parish. Peggy attended the University of South Carolina and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

Herman honored Peggy's life in his book, Good Driving, Amelia Bedelia, by writing in its dedication: "For Peggy Parish, the real Amelia Bedelia."

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this story book as a child, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this to my children.
Amelia Bedelia is still just as funny as she is to me now as when I was younger.
Truly a wonderful book to read to your children!

[Andrea Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, the adventures Amelia Bedelia gets into! This is another adorable story that delighted my little heart.

[parsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm…yes I did read this book. I was bored so I picked out something random from a bin of books next to me and it happened to be this one. The only reason I rated it 3 stars is because Amelia is a little bit clueless so it was funny to watch her make mistakes.

[Bambi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book to read for laughs and it was a fabulous recommendation. 10/10 no notes amelia was the most helpful and could never do wrong. 🙂‍↕️

[Humi · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mom used to read this book to me and she loves it

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia and her niece Effie Lou helps with chores at Miss Emma's house because Sumter is sick. As usual Amelia Bedelia takes a literal approach to the tasks she's assigned. Weeding the garden, sawing stakes for the beans, using bug powder, and various other tasks take on a whole new meaning when Amelia Bedelia does them. As always her baking skills save the day, and all mistakes are forgiven.

[Danica · Rating 5 out of 5]

More fun had by Amelia. Another win for her baking!

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Amelia Bedelia Helps Out" by Peggy Parish is a tremendously funny read...Amelia Bedelia was read so much while I was growing up...her character is such a big part of why reading was such an enjoyable activity back then...and still is.
In this particular episode, Amelia Bedelia is helping out around the house, and, in good 'ole Amelia Bedelia style, many of her chores are done all wrong. That is, everything except for the tea cake for Miss Emma's party. It turns out that, even through Amelia Bedelia followed her "own" recipe in making the tea cake, the tea party turns out alright...great actually. Miss Emma's friends love it and actually want more...
You'll have to tune in to this read for Amelia Bedelia's secret ingredient..., and don't be surprised if you want some yourself.
I give it 4 stars.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I guess having a screw loose runs in the family. Or maybe they should hire a tutor.
Amelia and her niece team up together to get chores done before the ladies arrive. Cake is what always saves Amelia. Might want to stick with that.
Also found out my book is signed by Peggy Parish.. time to freak out!!!

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Amelia Bedelia books. They are funny because Amelia Bedelia does stuff wrong, but things always workout. My favorite part in this book was when she put the steak and put it on the bean plants. This book was really good and I would like to try some tea cake sometime.

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have such good memories from this book. I laughed and laughed at the silly mistakes Amelia Bedelia would make, some of which stay fresh in my mind!

[Lila Streich · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about Amelia Bedelia and her niece, Effie Lou, whom she took with her to help clean a ladies house. Miss Emma first needs Amelia Bedelia to weed the garden, which causes Amelia to plant weeds. Next, Miss Emma wants her to stake the beans and kill the bugs on her potatoes. Amelia cuts pieces of steaks and ties it to the beans, next she takes a duster and dusts the bugs instead of dusting the potatoes with bug powder to kill them like Miss Emma wanted. Amelia Bedelia continues to take Miss Emma's directions literally and eventually, Miss Emma wants to walk around and check Amelia's work and realizes she did everything wrong. Finally, Miss Emma's guests arrive and they try Amelia's tea cake and love it. I thought the illustrations in the book were really simple and they weren't really my favorite, but I think younger students would still enjoy them because they're simple and aren't too detailed and confusing. I'd use this book in younger grades, probably kindergaten or first grade to teach about double meaning and how words can have different meanings and that we don't always mean what we say literally.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia Helps Out is a hilarious book! Miss Emma needs help, and Amelia is there to save the day—sort of. She's really, really mixed up! Like, instead of sewing seeds in the ground, she makes seed necklaces and puts them on the ground. Silly!

My most favorite part is when she's told to stake the beans. She gets steak, like the kind you eat, and cuts it into pieces. She ties the pieces to the bean plants! Can you believe it? It's so funny!

And guess what? Miss Emma survives all these mix-ups. But the funniest part is when Amelia tries to make a tea cake. She uses tea packets instead of real tea leaves! But you know what? It tastes pretty good! Maybe it should be a new recipe.

Amelia Bedelia is a big helper, but in the funniest way ever. If you like laughing and reading about crazy kitchen adventures, you'll love this book. It's full of surprises and yummy laughs!

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

[Brianna Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Amelia Bedelia series has always been a favorite of mine but I have to say Amelia Bedelia Helps Out has to be absolute favorite book out of this series. Amelia Bedelia just wants to help out and does her best with the directions she is given. However, some of those directions seem to be confusing or misleading to what is really being asked of Amelia Bedelia, but that doesn't stop Amelia from helping out. In the end all of what was asked of Amelia to do in order to help out is wrong, but her help is not appreciated and welcomed even though it might not have gone as planned. I think that the message this book gives can help young children realize that when they help that it is a nice gesture and even if it does not go as planned or they do the wrong thing that is okay because we all make mistake or get confused and the action of wanting to help is the most important factor.

[Elise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia bedelia and her niece help out a neighbour with work in her garden, but she messes up everything. Instead of removing weeds, she “plants” them. When she’s asked to stake the beans, she cuts pieces of uncooked steak and ties them around the bean plants. She was to put powder to rid of the potato bugs, but she dusted them instead. When asked to feed the chickens scraps, she gave them clothing scraps for quilting. When asked to sow grass seeds, they sewed them to be seed necklaces. Once again, her cooking saved the day when she made nut cake with white icing and everyone’s favourite, the pink cake with tea in it!

[Sidney Shiflet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoyed reading Amelia Bedelia books as a child and feel that they teach fairly good lessons. I chose this book in particular because it shows that a person just has to do the best that they can and that people should be forgiving in certain situations. I enjoyed reading this book but felt that it didn't go in to much depth so I don't know how well this book could be used in the curriculum. I do think that Amelia Bedelia books should be in classroom bookshelves and in school libraries as I do believe students can learn from these simple stories.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A neighbor needs Amelia Bedelia's helping hands, so everyone's favorite housekeeper is off to Miss Emma's house for a day of work. She makes a merry mess, then feeds delectable desserts. Amelia shows her niece Effie Lou how to follow instructions to the letter as they dust the potato bugs and sew seeds. Fun!!

[Lonicocopuffs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again with the food Amelia 💀 seriously what's in that food??? Because all the atrocities she commits are immediately forgotten after she bakes something? I need lessons. And kids are so innocent, she was just following what aunt Amelia was up to not questioning a thing even though deep down she suspected some of the things to be odd. Kids man🥺

[Terilyn Bufkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to read to children. It's a very humorous book and will make the children laugh. It's easy to follow along and makes reading enjoyable.

[Homeschooling with the Cardens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super funny the best one I had read to this point.

[Greg S · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing isn’t great. The grammar could be better.
But it’s a book that is constructed on puns so it’s amusing.

My son hasn’t gotten tired of it, and neither have I, so it gets a high mark.

[Dili · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun story about Amelia B making a mess while trying to help a neighborhood with house chores :)

[Penny Poppleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading with my kids!

[The Book Box]

Mama and I read this the other night.

[Rachel Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't a big fan of Effie Lou, but Amelia Bedelia is hilarious.

[Yvonne Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

All these books

[Katja Labonté · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars & 4/10 hearts. This was not typical Amelia Bedelia story—except the ending was unusual and I really liked that! Also it was nice to meet her niece ;)

[SteFF · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia is loads of fun!

[Hannah T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious! I love Amelia Bedelia books- so funny and enjoy able and my kiddos love them!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm willing to read anything just about. I always heard of these books. Very interesting.