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Amelia Bedelia and her best friends, Heather and Holly, decide they need a clubhouse from which to plan their adventures. When Amelia accidentally finds what she thinks is the perfect spot for their Explorers’ Club, she has to enlist the help and ask permission of everyone’s parents because it’s on a dangerous garbage-filled lot next to a creepy house.
Amelia knows her parents all too well, so she does and says things to ensure they will say yes. With a mouthful of kale in her mouth (to please her mom), she asks, “Aren’t you always telling me we need a sense of community? To give something back to where we are?” It’s hard work, but Amelia’s dad makes the task of picking up garbage fun because of the games he invents while they are picking up tires and old TVs.
Before the girls can proceed with building their clubhouse, they must find a way to acquire the lot because it was put up for sale after they cleaned up the garbage. But they won’t need money to do it. All they will have to do is be themselves and tell the truth to the potential buyers--and meet the mysterious woman who lives in the creepy house.
There is a bit of humor in the writing because Amelia takes everything people say seriously. When Pete from the diner calls out "long time no see", Amelia wonders what is wrong with his eyes.
I liked the ending to this story because the girls make a new friend and Amelia finds another use for her famous lemon recipes (written about in a previous book). The book also has a cheerful, glittery orange cover. Readers who have not read the other books in the series could read this one and still enjoy and follow the story.
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Amelia Bedelia Cleans Up