Amelia Bedelia Scared Silly

Amelia Bedelia Chapter Book Special Edition Holiday #2

by Herman Parish, Lynne Avril (Illustrator)

Celebrate the holidays with Amelia Bedelia! Amelia Bedelia, her friends, and her family enjoy some scary (and sweet) fun in this haunting Halloween edition. This chapter book is an excellent choice for children who are ready to read independently, and is terrific for building vocabulary and social and emotional learning. Includes a recipe, a special Amelia Bedelia mask, and a craft project to make at home!

It’s Amelia Bedelia’s new friend Candy’s first Halloween since coming to Oak Tree Elementary. But when Amelia Bedelia tells her new friend how spooktacular it will be—decorations on almost every house and store, the costume parade, the pumpkin carving contest—Candy seems unimpressed. 

Then Amelia Bedelia tells her about the Haunted Hayride at Seven Gables Farms, and Candy is convinced. But what happens when the Haunted Hayride is cancelled? Will Amelia Bedelia come up with a plan to save Halloween for her friends old and new?

A humorous and not-too-scary story, plenty of misunderstandings, tons of thrills, and a festive package make this an ideal gift book for newly independent readers and storytime sharing.

Amelia Bedelia has been making readers laugh since 1963, when the first Amelia Bedelia book was published. Now you can meet the young Amelia Bedelia. Come join the fun!

Genres: Halloween

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 20, 2021

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

[Heather Jenkins]

Read with Meredith

[Morgan Mitton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids liked it, but slowly lost interest. Still too long for them I think.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style isn't brilliant but I do appreciate that the author managed to include a lot of spooky-fun Halloween elements with a bit of education about owls. I'm really a wimp when it comes to scary stories but I thought the ones in here were surprisingly creepy -- they are just ghost stories the kids make up but include people dropping dead of fright, being haunted by ghosts, inns burning down and severed fingers paying a call so definitely not for little ones easily frightened. I could see kids who like getting goosebumps really enjoying it, though.

[MOLLY · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only giving it one star.
We didn't finish it.

It very well may be an awesome book--but it was super hard for my daughter that has dyslexia. The word play was really hard for her to read/understand.

BUT-- give it a try! Your kid might like it!

[Eliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia Bedelia is getting ready for Halloween. Her new friend, Candy, loves to be scared on Halloween. But when she realizes the scariest part about Halloween isn't coming true, can Amelia Bedelia and her friends find a way to scare Candy silly?

[Maggie Panning · Rating 3 out of 5]

My seven-year-old gave this five stars. I think he liked that it was spooky but not scary.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eliana’s review: “there aren’t enough pictures and this story is boring.” Ok then……

[Kelsey Chambers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ava liked how Amelia Bedelia tried to convince her friend Candy to enjoy the pumpkin patch. Ava said it was kind of scary.