Q: What is the last book you read?

The last book I read was Ameila Bedelia by Peggy Parish. It is a children’s story about a maid whose character, in my opinion, parallels The Golden Girls’ Rose Nyland played by Betty White. Both literalists to a fault, Amelia is different in that she prefers lemon meringue pie to cheesecake. Thankfully so does her boss, Mr. Rogers.

There are several reasons I am drawn to the book:

1.     Ameila is a go-getter. She hits the ground running and is excited about her new job tasks: draw the drapes, dust the furniture, change the towels, dress the chicken, etc. With little to no direction at all – just a list – Amelia sets out to run the show. She goes about her chores with a sense of independence as she transitions from one task to the next. As the day progresses, she becomes more and more sure-footed. Towards the end of her shift she is greeted by her bosses, Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, whose negative first impressions were silenced by a piece of pie (AKA the diamond in the rough).

 2.     Despite misinterpreting the assignments, Ameila managed to impress me. Although baking a dessert was not asked of her, she went out on a limb. This demonstrates that she has initiative as well as other pertinent job skills. Likewise, she has a good attitude towards her work. She demonstrated that she did not always understand the reason behind some of the requests such as dust the furniture; but, she went about the task wholeheartedly with a genuine spirit.

 3.    When faced with a misunderstanding she demonstrated a will to go on through the goodness of conflict resolution. Admiringly, Ameila worked with her employers to resolve the miscommunication and to make things right so that she has the best chance at a successful career.

There is a great lesson to be learned from this book. Mrs. Rogers comes across as having little to no tolerance for imperfections. She wanted to fire Ameila straight away for not having the ability to complete her chores. In my opinion, Mrs. Rogers’ approach was flawed. Her directions were a one-size fits all approach: Here is a list and there is the house. Mrs. Rogers handed the list to Ameila – she did not ask clarifying questions to check for Ameila’s understanding. As educators, parents and coaches, we need to take into consideration that a cookie-cutter approach to giving directions does not cut it. We need to find out what works for each individual or groups of individuals. What tickles their taste-buds…cheesecake or lemon meringue pie?