The Art of Irreverence » lynne avril http://artofirreverence.com a family album of books, music, outings, and more Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:48:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Picture book reviewlet: Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School http://artofirreverence.com/2009/09/01/amelia/ http://artofirreverence.com/2009/09/01/amelia/#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:11:11 +0000 Amy Graves http://artofirreverence.com/weblog/?p=110 A first day review for your reading pleasure.

Herman Parish.  Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School.  Illustrated by Lynne Avril.  Greenwillow, 2009.  32 pages.  Age 4 to 8.

Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School

I don’t mind Herman Parish keeping the Amelia Bedelia series alive, but this…what?  This can’t possibly be a prequel.  Too contemporary.  Neither a retcon so much as an alternate timeline.  Let’s think about this before we go any further.  Does Amelia Bedelia, beloved as she is, really call for an alternate timeline?

This book just doesn’t work for me.  Amelia Bedelia’s appeal is in her literal interpretation of idiomatic phrases.  Funny for an adult, but not so much for a kindergartner.  Five year olds interpret language literally by default.  In extreme cases, like when her teacher asks her to glue herself to her seat, it can be funny, but less obvious misinterpretations are hardly noteworthy.

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