Celebrate birthday of Peggy Parish, Manning's own 'Amelia Bedelia' series author, July 14 at HCCL

MANNING - Everyone is invited to celebrate the birthday of the local and renowned author of the "Amelia Bedelia" series, Peggy Parish, at 1 p.m. Friday, July 14, at the Harvin Clarendon County Library, 215 N. Brooks St.

America's favorite housemaid, Amelia Bedelia, will make an appearance to celebrate Parish's birthday, and she'll be reading one of Parish's books.

"We'll have lots of activities," said HCCL Librarian Holly Cockfield. "We'll have cake and party foods."

Parish's character, Amelia Bedelia, took instructions quite literally.

In "Amelia Bedelia Bakes Off," Amelia made cheesecake by decorating blocks of cheese.

In the book "Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm," Amelia knitted jackets for books with yarn.

Amelia made quite a mess when she rolled jelly on the floor when Mrs. Rogers asked her to make a jelly roll in "Thank You, Amelia Bedelia."

Don't let Amelia plan your wedding shower. Can you imagine what she did? Amelia soaked the women with a gardening hose for her wedding shower in "Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower."

Other idioms included Amelia dressing a chicken by putting clothes on it. She "drew the drapes" by sketching them on paper, and she "dusted the furniture" with cosmetic dusting powder.

Parish, a native of Clarendon County, taught school at the Dalton School in Manhattan, where the idea for Amelia Bedelia took form. Parish said that her students "tended to confuse vocabulary, often with comic results." Parish's Amelia may have also been inspired by a housekeeper at her grandparents' home.

A statue of Parish's famous character Amelia Bedelia welcomes adults and children to the library as it sits alongside the sidewalk entering the library.