Amelia Bedelia (book)

[2] The idea for the book came from a former housekeeper as well as Peggy's third-grade students at the Dalton School in Manhattan who tended to confuse vocabulary, often with comic results.

Peggy also drew inspiration from the third graders she taught, observing how her students sometimes struggled to interpret instructions that could be misunderstood when taken at face value.

[5] In a 2013 interview, Herman Parish recalls how his aunt created Amelia Bedelia's character because of the need to target children of a certain age when they are both interested in reading and able to use their imagination without restraint.

[6] Herman Parish references this same idea in another interview about Amelia Bedelia, noting the importance of incorporating imagination and fun into books to engage children readers.

Mrs. Rogers finds it so delicious that she forgives Amelia Bedelia and decides to continue to employ her and vows to write more explicit instructions in the future.

[8] In Carol Wolchok's book The Reading Teacher, she outlines a lesson that teaches idioms to third graders with examples from Amelia Bedelia.

[9] School Media Activities Monthly published a lesson combining illustrations with instruction on figurative and literal language based on Amelia Bedelia.