Herman Parish

Life and career

Having grown up with his aunt’s tales of Amelia’s humorous misadventures, Herman decided to carry on the legacy after his aunt’s death in 1988. He did not wish to entrust the future of the series into the hands of a children’s author outside of the family. Since Peggy had the summers off from teaching, she was able to stay with the Parish family for extended periods of time, allowing Herman and Peggy to develop a close relationship. More important, this gave Herman a chance to keenly observe Peggy during her writing processes, gaining great insight to the road ahead of him.

To carry on the essence of the series, Herman thoroughly examined his aunt’s work and did his best to capture what exactly made the character of Amelia Bedelia such a hit. In an interview with Publishers Weekly, Herman noted he didn't want to simply copy his aunt's style of "Amelia being given a list of things to do, but then being left alone to interpret it literally and run amuck," but chose to "have her have face-to-face misunderstandings instead." Having editor Susan Hirschman and illustrator Lynn Sweat in common with his aunt helped make the transition. Herman is a resident of Princeton, New Jersey, and travels to libraries and schools across the United States, speaking to young children. The importance of revising and editing is often stressed during these lectures. He has presented to students in more than 22 states.

In May 2014, Parish collapsed at his home, suffering a hemorrhagic stroke. He spent 17 days in the intensive care unit at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and later dedicated Amelia Bedelia Cleans Up to two of his physicians.

Amelia Bedelia

Young Amelia Bedelia

Published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Gatefold books (*) are published by HarperFestival.