CHILDREN'S BOOK AUTHOR With Amelia Bedelia, writer carries on family tradition

Amelia's charm is in her simple understanding of the English language.
By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NORTH LIMA -- Ask Amelia Bedelia to draw the drapes and don't be surprised if the literal-minded maid draws you a picture of the living-room curtains.
Amelia, who is celebrating her 40th year as the featured character in the famed children's book series, takes everything you say as if you really mean it that way.
"She's confused," said Herman Parish of Princeton, N.J. "It's the way she sees the world. She takes everything literally."
Parish's aunt, the late Peggy Parish, created the character Amelia Bedelia in the early 1960s and wrote 12 books featuring the merry maid. Parish has continued the series, penning nearly 10 of his own Amelia Bedelia episodes, including the almost-finished "Happy Haunting."
This week Parish is visiting area elementary schools, offering pupils his own thoughts as to why he thinks Amelia sees things differently from other folks.
Visited South Range
He spoke to pupils at South Range Elementary School in North Lima on Wednesday. Amelia, portrayed by Hannah Kink, a South Range High School student, also made an appearance.
"People think Amelia's crazy. But really, the English language is pretty crazy," Parish said. "We have sayings and phrases we use that confuse other people, people trying to learn our language. They really don't know what we mean sometimes.
"Like if we say 'You're pulling my leg.' They don't get that because nobody's actually pulling anybody's leg."
Parish said although he grew up with Amelia, he never considered continuing his aunt's legacy until several years after she died suddenly from an aneurysm. Parish was in fourth grade when his aunt created Amelia.
About 10 years ago, five years after his aunt had died, he realized the impact she, and Amelia, made on people. "Even though she had been dead several years, she received mail from people wanting to know when the next Amelia book would be out," said Parish, who formerly worked in advertising.
Kept it in the family
He said other children's writers volunteered to continue the series, but he felt uneasy about Amelia leaving the Parish family. So, with his family's blessings, he decided to write his own Amelia Bedelia adventure.
"I like Amelia, and I like writing about her," he said. "She's a lot of fun. I'm always writing things down that she might do, or phrases we take figuratively, that she'd take literally."
He mentions the time in one adventure when Amelia taught school and was asked to call the roll.
She called a roll, a fresh-baked one.
"Like I said, it's just the way she sees things," Parish said. & quot;That's what makes Amelia, Amelia Bedelia."