Amelia Bedelia 4 Mayor
Herman Parish, Lynn (illustrator) Sweat
Hardcover
(HarperCollins Children's Book Group, Jan. 1, 1999)
Grade 1-3 Amelia Bedelia always does exactly what people tell her to do, so when her employer says he wishes she would run for the mayor's office, she dashes down to city hall. Although Amelia never meant to do anything more than literally run to the office, an encounter with the mayor and a reporter soon has her in the thick of a political campaign. Such literal mindedness is what gives Amelia her charm, and there are plenty of instances of humorous confusion in this latest installment in the series. If not quite to the level of the original titles written by Peggy Parish, the author's nephew does a satisfactory job of carrying on the traditions of wordplay and wacky complications that have made Amelia Bedelia such a beloved character. Readers will recognize Sweat's watercolor and black-pen illustrations from the earlier books. Most libraries should find this title to be a popular selection.