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Peggy Parish (1927–1988)

Author of Amelia Bedelia

87+ Works 40,536 Members 604 Reviews 8 Favorited

About the Author

Peggy Parish was born in Manning, South Carolina on July 14, 1927. She attended the University of South Carolina and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. While visiting her brother in Kentucky, Parish was persuaded to enter the teaching profession. After teaching creative dancing to young show more children, she moved to Oklahoma and taught third grade in the Panhandle, in addition to teaching dance and producing community shows. Parish's first book, My Golden Book of Manners, was published in 1961, followed by Let's Be Indians in 1962. A parent of one of the students, who was an editor of adult books, found out she was trying to break into the writing field and introduced her to an editor at Harper who helped improve her skills as a storyteller. This, of course, led to her biggest breakthrough, the creation of Amelia Bedelia in 1963. Parish eventually wrote 11 more Amelia Bedelia books as well as a number of mystery novels, and arts and crafts books. Among these other titles are Haunted House, Dinosaur Time, The Chimp That Went to School and Let's Celebrate: Holiday Decorations You Can Make. In addition to writing books, Parish did television pieces on preschool education and children's books, wrote book review columns and led a number of in-service training workshops for teachers. Parish died of an aneurysm on November 19, 1988. Her nephew, Herman Parish, continues to recreate new titles in the Amelia Bedelia series. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Series

Works by Peggy Parish

Amelia Bedelia (1963) 7,231 copies
Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia (1977) 3,267 copies
Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia (1962) 3,233 copies
Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping (1985) 2,621 copies
Come Back, Amelia Bedelia (1971) 2,335 copies
Amelia Bedelia Helps Out (1979) 2,172 copies
Thank You, Amelia Bedelia (1964) 2,085 copies
Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia (1986) 2,063 copies
Good Work, Amelia Bedelia (1976) 2,035 copies
Amelia Bedelia and the Baby (1981) 1,933 copies
Amelia Bedelia's Family Album (1750) 1,258 copies
Dinosaur Time (1974) 1,161 copies
No More Monsters for Me! (1981) 888 copies
The Amelia Bedelia Treasury (1998) 825 copies
Key to the Treasure (1966) 648 copies
Scruffy (1988) 467 copies
Good hunting, Blue Sky (1988) 369 copies
Clues in the Woods (1968) 265 copies
The Haunted House (1971) 144 copies
Pirate Island Adventure (1975) 140 copies
Too Many Rabbits (1974) 139 copies
The Ghosts of Cougar Island (1986) 99 copies
The Mystery of Hermit Dan (1977) 94 copies
Ootah's Lucky Day (1970) 87 copies
Granny and the Desperadoes (1736) 71 copies
Mind Your Manners (1978) 54 copies
Granny and the Indians (1810) 48 copies
Be Ready at Eight (1979) 39 copies
Let's Be Indians (1962) 18 copies
Willy is My Brother (1963) 17 copies
Good Hunting Little Indian (1962) 15 copies
Littlest Raccoon (1961) 14 copies
Costumes to Make (1970) 13 copies
I Can, Can You?: Level 4 (1980) 11 copies
A Beastly Circus (1969) 7 copies
Beginning Mobiles (1979) 4 copies
Little Indian (1964) 3 copies
Jumper goes to school (1969) 3 copies
The Golden Calendar 1966 (1965) 2 copies
Hermit Dan 1 copy

Associated Works

Tagged

_Beginning Readers (150) Amelia Bedelia (1,572) baseball (129) beginning reader (102) camping (131) chapter book (257) children (412) children's (667) children's book (141) children's books (123) children's fiction (194) children's literature (208) Christmas (252) dinosaurs (195) early reader (490) easy (100) easy reader (559) fiction (1,494) funny (259) homophones (146) humor (821) I Can Read (137) idioms (235) illustrated (82) juvenile (107) juvenile fiction (83) kids (177) L (345) Level 2 (158) Level L (268) maid (95) mystery (124) picture book (700) read (95) reader (197) realistic fiction (209) school (129) series (393) silly (159) wordplay (189)

Common Knowledge

Other names
Parish, Margaret Cecile (birth name)
Birthdate
1927-07-14
Date of death
1988-11-19
Burial location
Manning Cemetery, Manning, South Carolina, USA
Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Manning, South Carolina, USA
Place of death
Manning, South Carolina, USA
Cause of death
aneurysm
Places of residence
Manning, South Carolina, USA
Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Education
University of South Carolina (BA|English)
Vanderbilt University
Occupations
teacher
children's book author
children's book reviewer
dance instructor
Relationships
Parish, Herman (nephew)
Organizations
Authors Guild
Authors League of America
Delta Kappa Gamma
Dalton School
Carolina Today
Short biography
Margaret Cecile "Peggy" Parish was an American writer known best for the children's book series and fictional character Amelia Bedelia. Parish was born in Manning, South Carolina to a poor family, attended the University of South Carolina, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She worked as a teacher in Oklahoma, Kentucky, and in New York. She taught at the Dalton School in Manhattan for 15 years and published her first children's book while teaching third grade there. She authored over 30 books, which had sold 7 million copies at the time of her death.

Members

Discussions

Reviews

EducatingParents.org rating: Approved
 
Flagged
MamaBear297 | 33 other reviews | Dec 2, 2023 |
When Mr. Carter mistakes the lovable, literal-minded Amelia Bedelia for the new teacher, class will never be the same again!
 
Flagged
PlumfieldCH | 33 other reviews | Sep 21, 2023 |
Amelia Bedelia says, "I don't know a thing about babies," so she has her hands full when she takes care of Mrs. Lane's baby. As usual, everyone's favorite quirky housekeeper mixes things up, but she also wins the heart of her newest and youngest fan.
 
Flagged
PlumfieldCH | 28 other reviews | Sep 21, 2023 |
Guess who's at bat? The lovable, hilarious Amelia Bedelia is back, filling in for a sick player on the Grizzlies baseball team. Watch out! Because nobody plays ball like Amelia Bedelia.
 
Flagged
PlumfieldCH | 35 other reviews | Sep 21, 2023 |

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Statistics

Works
87
Also by
3
Members
40,536
Popularity
#433
Rating
4.0
Reviews
604
ISBNs
509
Languages
4
Favorited
8
Touchstones
74

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