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A review by nnecatrix
Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish, Lynn Sweat
2.0
Book #22 for 2012
This week I began volunteering for the children's summer literacy program at one of the local trailer parks. There is a time each day for silent reading, and I had planned to read one of the books I had downloaded onto my phone's e-readers while the students were reading books they had selected. My phone was being uncooperative, though, so I plucked this book off the shelf.
It took me all of 15 minutes to zip through, and it was fairly entertaining in spots. I might have given it 3 stars, but there was a problem with possessives that ticked me off. I know it sounds weird to say "the Rogerses" to mean the Rogers family, but really, that's how the plural is formed. (Likewise, my family is referred to as the Pontiuses, not the Pontii, even though the latter is much more fun to say.) So the home of the Rogers family is "the Rogerses'" and not "the Rogers'." I personally think we should follow the French model, which pluralizes a family name by sticking a "les" in front of the name and turns "the home/place of" into the much more elegantly economical "chez." In the meantime, though, can we please not put terrible English errors in children's books?
I also gather that this particular story may not have been the best introduction to Miss Bedelia. I just couldn't get past the idea that sometimes she was more than a little stupid. Even if she's usually more clever than this book made her out to be, however, she is certainly no Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.
This week I began volunteering for the children's summer literacy program at one of the local trailer parks. There is a time each day for silent reading, and I had planned to read one of the books I had downloaded onto my phone's e-readers while the students were reading books they had selected. My phone was being uncooperative, though, so I plucked this book off the shelf.
It took me all of 15 minutes to zip through, and it was fairly entertaining in spots. I might have given it 3 stars, but there was a problem with possessives that ticked me off. I know it sounds weird to say "the Rogerses" to mean the Rogers family, but really, that's how the plural is formed. (Likewise, my family is referred to as the Pontiuses, not the Pontii, even though the latter is much more fun to say.) So the home of the Rogers family is "the Rogerses'" and not "the Rogers'." I personally think we should follow the French model, which pluralizes a family name by sticking a "les" in front of the name and turns "the home/place of" into the much more elegantly economical "chez." In the meantime, though, can we please not put terrible English errors in children's books?
I also gather that this particular story may not have been the best introduction to Miss Bedelia. I just couldn't get past the idea that sometimes she was more than a little stupid. Even if she's usually more clever than this book made her out to be, however, she is certainly no Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.