Amelia Bedelia

𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 Amelia Bedelia 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘗𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘺 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩

The premise of each Amelia Bedelia book is simple and perfect: 1. She is given a set of common but ambiguously-phrased instructions. 2. She misinterprets the instructions and chaos ensues. 3. Just when she’s about to be fired, she soothes her apoplectic employers with a pie so delicious, their eyes roll back in their heads and their wrath is forgotten.

On the surface, the books are about wordplay. Amelia is a natural stand-in for her young audience. When I first read the series, I was a five-year-old who was just as surprised as Amelia that anybody would ask to have their raw chicken dressed (and just as delighted as she was when she found some doll lederhosen that fit the chicken).

But the character-driven reason for Amelia’s persistent misunderstanding is that she’s in the wrong line of work. She embodies the pathos and energy of somebody bursting with talent but stuck where they don’t belong. Why doesn’t she open a pastry shop and share her astounding pies with the world? Parish never explains, but it’s a fair guess that Amelia doesn’t have the money. The other great tragedy of the books is that each time the other characters discover and fall upon the pie, they never think to offer Amelia a single bite. The greed. The rudeness! This has bothered me for DECADES. So I drew Amelia sitting down after a hard day of wreaking havoc, finally enjoying a secret piece. To see the uncropped version, check out the picture here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CF0II3Ah7Bn/