Peggy Parish facts for kids

Margaret Cecile "Peggy" Parish (born July 14, 1927 – died November 19, 1988) was an American writer who created many popular children's books. She is best known for her funny character, Amelia Bedelia, who always takes things very literally.

Peggy Parish was born in Manning, South Carolina. Her family wasn't wealthy. She studied English at the University of South Carolina. After college, she became a teacher. She taught in Oklahoma, Kentucky, and New York. She taught third graders at the Dalton School in Manhattan for 15 years. While she was teaching there, she published her very first children's book. Peggy wrote over 30 books in her lifetime. By the time she passed away, her books had sold more than 7 million copies!

Meet Amelia Bedelia

Peggy Parish's most famous character is Amelia Bedelia. Amelia is a housekeeper who takes every instruction exactly as she hears it. This often leads to hilarious mix-ups and funny problems! For example, if someone tells her to "dust the furniture," she might sprinkle dust on it instead of cleaning it off. If she's told to "draw the curtains," she might sketch a picture of them!

The idea for Amelia Bedelia came from Peggy Parish's own observations. She noticed how her third-grade students sometimes took words literally. She talked about these ideas with Susan Hirschman, who founded Greenwillow Books. Peggy Parish herself used to do jobs like cooking and cleaning when she was younger, which inspired Amelia's work.

Amelia Bedelia never uses recipes when she cooks. She just adds "a little bit of this and a little bit of that." Even with her unusual methods, her cakes, cookies, and meals always turn out delicious! Her employers can't fire her, even though she causes so much trouble by misunderstanding their instructions. She might "prune" the shrubs by cutting off all the leaves, or "ice" the fish by putting frosting on it! Young readers love Amelia Bedelia's funny adventures and her kind, simple nature. Her stories help kids see how words can have more than one meaning.

How Peggy Parish Wrote Her Books

Peggy Parish's nephew, Herman Parish, continued the Amelia Bedelia series after she passed away. He honored her in his book, Good Driving, Amelia Bedelia, by dedicating it to her. He wrote: "For Peggy Parish, the real Amelia."

Herman shared how Peggy used to write her books. When she was working on Too Many Rabbits, she would write her ideas on small index cards. Then, she would lay out the cards like she was playing a game of solitaire. She would pick them up, retype them, and rewrite everything many times. This careful method showed how much effort she put into her stories.

Peggy Parish's Books

Here are some of the books Peggy Parish wrote:

Other Books

• Littlest Raccoon (1961), illustrated by Claude Humbert
• Let's Be Indians (1962), illus. Arnold Lobel
• My Little Golden Book of Manners (1962), illus. Richard Scarry
• Good Hunting Little Indian (1963), illus. Leonard Weisgard

  Re-released and revised in 1991 as Good Hunting, Blue Sky with illustrations by James Watts

• Willy Is My Brother (1963), illus. Shirley Hughes
• The Golden Calendar: 1966 (1966), illus. Tibor Gergely
• Let's Be Early Settlers with Daniel Boone (1967), illus. Arnold Lobel
• Ootah's Lucky Day (1970), illus. Mamoru Funai
• Dinosaur Time (1974), illus. Arnold Lobel
• No More Monsters For Me! (1981), illus. Marc Simont
• Scruffy (1988), illus. Kelly Oechsli

Amelia Bedelia Books

These books were illustrated by Wallace Tripp, Fritz Siebel, Lynne Avril, Barbara Siebel Thomas or Lynn Sweat:

• Amelia Bedelia (1963) (Big Bright and Early Board Books)
• Thank You, Amelia Bedelia (1964)
• Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower (1966)
• Come Back, Amelia Bedelia (1971)
• Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia (1972)
• Good Work, Amelia Bedelia (1976)
• Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia (1977)
• Amelia Bedelia Helps Out (1979)
• Amelia Bedelia and the Baby (1981)
• Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping (1985)
• Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia (1986)
• Amelia Bedelia's Family Album (1988)

Liza, Bill & Jed Mysteries

• Key to the Treasure (1966)
• Clues in the Woods (1968)
• The Haunted House (1971)
• Pirate Island Adventure (1975)
• The Mystery of Hermit Dan (1977)
• The Ghosts of Cougar Island (1986)