Amelia Bedelia on the Job

Amelia Bedelia’s class is learning about jobs, but most of the students don’t know what their parents’ occupations are. Amelia’s father talks about making slides and pitching, so Amelia assumes her father coaches baseball. When Amelia’s class goes on a field trip to a corporate park, she discovers a lot about her father and his job.

In Amelia Bedelia on the Job, Amelia’s story jumps back and forth between Amelia’s home, her school, and a corporate park. During the story, different students share what they learned about jobs. For example, one student gave a report about plants and factories, while another student gives a report on mills. During the field trip, students learn about getting paid, withdrawals, and other work-related items.

Similar to other books, Amelia Bedelia on the Job uses silly illustrations to show what Amelia imagines a word to mean. However, the chapter book also teaches the difference between jargon and slang. While on the field trip, one of the adults also uses idioms in his speech. Even though the idioms are illustrated to mean the literal meaning of the idiom, the idioms’ meanings are never explained in the story’s text. Instead, at the end of the story, there are two pages of illustrated idioms that show their literal and figurative meanings.

Amelia Bedelia’s parents are portrayed in a positive light and they share a cute story about how they met. When he was younger, Amelia’s father was a “jerk.” While telling the story, both parents explain what a “soda jerk” is. Readers who enjoy action-packed stories will be disappointed with Amelia Bedelia on the Job, which feels like an extended vocabulary lesson.

Even though Amelia Bedelia on the Job has black-and-white illustrations that break up the text, the story has some advanced vocabulary which may be confusing for some readers. When Amelia is confused about a word’s meaning, her confusion is often illustrated, which adds some humor to the story. Amelia Bedelia on the Job is packed with information about words and careers. Unfortunately, the story’s focus on teaching gives the story a slow pace, which may cause many readers to put the book down and never pick it up again.

If you’re looking for a book that teaches vocabulary and is an interesting story, you may want to add Hilde Cracks the Case by Hilde Lysiak, Polly Diamond by Alice Kuipers, and Diana Toledano, or Mac B. Kid Spy by Mac Barnett to your reading list.

 Sexual Content

• None

Violence

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Drugs and Alcohol

• None

Language

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Supernatural

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Spiritual Content

• None