Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine: Special Gift Edition

Recommended – additional purchase

Amelia Bedelia starts her day off with a series of misunderstandings and then gets ready for Valentine’s Day. Her mom gave her a box of playing cards and she didn’t understand what playing cards were for and since they had hearts on them, she thought they were

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Valentine’s Day cards. She also had a hard time understanding the sayings on the Valentine’s Day cards she was supposed to be preparing for her class. Amelia did not want a visit from cupid because babies don’t have wings. Amelia woke up late on Valentine’s Day and barely made it to the bus, then she forgot all her Valentine’s cards on the bus. Amelia was sad enough to start crying at school, but in the end fixed everything by passing out the playing cards with hearts on them. She is then puzzled by the neighbor boy on her way home from school. Then she is excited to receive a Valentine’s Day present from her dad.

This book is part of the Amelia Bedelia Picture Book Series written by Herman Parish. Herman Parish is the nephew of Peggy Parish, the original creator of Amelia Bedelia. Amelia is a child in this series and the illustrations look more modern. Amelia is still prone to lots of misunderstandings, which form the plot of the story. The puns are there, but the attempt has been made to make it humorous for younger children, not the emerging readers of the earlier books by Peggy Parish. I don’t think the writing was as clever as it could have been. The illustrations are bright and have a Valentine’s Day theme. Lots of pink, red and yellow color through out the pages. This book would be a good addition to Valentine’s Day themed books. Readers will be able to look forward to the older Amelia Bedelia and her adventures. I don’t think I would read this book aloud to classes because it doesn’t have that flow to it. However, it would go well with book displays and I am sure elementary students would be attracted to the cute illustrations and bright colors. I would probably buy the whole series if the first book went over well with younger readers.

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Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine is a story about Amelia Bedelia coming home from school and seeing her mother playing cards with friends. When Amelia tells everyone what cards her mother has, she gives Amelia a deck of cards. Amelia's father comes home and tells her about Cupid and Amelia finishes

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her Valentines cards for the party at school the next day. The next day she goes to school and leaves the Valentines cards on the bus. She is sad until she remembers the deck of cards in her backpack. On the way home, she is holding her box of Valentines and it gets shot by an arrow. Amelia makes a good friend from that situation.
I like this book because it has a familiar character that children can find in a whole series of books. She is a child who does not always understand the phrases that are said to her and takes them literally which becomes funny. Using a familiar character in different situations helps children relate to situations in their life.
I would use this book to show children that there are different ways to cope. If something gets lost or forgotten, there are other options available.

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As a kid, Amelia Bedelia books were always one of my favorites. So, when I found one on the holiday, Valentines Day, I was excited to read it. I loved this story because of the funny and literate language. Specifically, Amelia Bedelia takes everything literally, like when the bus driver said,

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“You’re holding us up!” and Amelia Bedelia replied, “That’s impossible, I’m not strong enough!” I remember being a kid and cracking up as my mom read me these stories! In addition to this, Amelia Bedelia’s character is what makes the story so amusing to children. She is relatable to young children because just like them, Amelia Bedelia is trying to figure out and understand the world. She makes mistakes, which children can laugh about and share similar happenings. The main idea of this story is to introduce the holiday of Valentine’s Day, a book centered on love and friendship.

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