Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great

Sheila and her friends were writing in their Slam Books, writing what they really think of each other. I knew I didn’t have to worry about what my friends think of me, because I am careful to keep my bad points to myself, Sheila was thinking. Sometimes I think I am really two people. I am the only one who knows sheila tubman—afraid of dogs, spiders, the dark, thunder…can’t swim, work a yo-yo, never heard of Washington Irving. Everyone else knows only SHEILA THE GREAT—knowledgeable, witty, afraid of nothing.

But the Slam Books reveal a few chinks in Sheila’s carefully wrought armor, and if she is fooling anyone, it certainly isn’t her new friend Mouse Ellis, Junior Yo-yo Champion of Tarrytown, swimmer, and dog lover.

Slowly, Sheila begins o overcome her fears by admitting them, and she even learns to admit there are some things she doesn’t know about. By the time her family has to return to New York City, Sheila decides that sleeping in a boy’s room, sharing the rented house with a dog, and taking those dread swimming lessons were not so bad, after all, perhaps even better than a trip to Disneyland.