Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine

Written by Herman Parish

Narrated by Christine Ebersole

The New York Times bestselling picture book! It's Valentine's Day in young Amelia Bedelia's classroom. And you know Amelia Bedelia—she wears her heart on her sleeve. More than 35 million Amelia Bedelia books sold since 1963!

The second book in the nationally bestselling series about the childhood of America's favorite literal-minded housekeeper. School is always exciting for Amelia Bedelia, and getting her first Valentine's Day card may be the most exciting surprise of all. But what will she do when she forgets her valentines for her classmates on the bus? Luckily, Amelia Bedelia is resourceful, and she doesn't break any hearts.

A lovely pick for Valentine's Day—or any day—Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine will have readers making room in their hearts for this charmingly literal little girl.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: May 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9780062223548

Herman Parish

Herman Parish was in the fourth grade when his aunt, Peggy Parish, wrote the first book about Amelia Bedelia. The author lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

Reviews for Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine

[April · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

6 year old daughter loved this book! Listened to it with her.

[Chris Clanton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kids loved it and they enjoy the reader too... Amelia Bedelia is always a good laugh for children

[Kingdom Faith Academy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very funny great for girls I love how she give all her cards that she made to the boy very great book I bet your girl or girls will like it if you have sick or kids that have emonsysteam problems go to TheOliyMix.com thank you this book is very good .

[ebutzn1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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, “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.

[kmjanek · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[dangerlibearian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Too long for storytime, contains all the wit and silliness of the the Amelia Bedelia easy readers.