Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great

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Synopsis

Sheila Tubman really wants to go to Disneyland for her summer vacation, but instead her parents rent a house in Tarrytown, New York, to get out of the big city. She dislikes dogs, but has to put up with one living with them. She's afraid of swimming, but her mother insists on her taking lessons. She's also afraid of the dark, thunder, and spiders, doesn't know how to work a yo-yo, and is forced to sleep in a room that belongs to a boy when she'd had dreams of a frilly canopy bed. It's looking like it will be a rough summer until Sheila makes friends with Mouse, a girl who lives down the road, and who's a yo-yo champion, dog lover and avid swimmer. Summer day camp turns out to be pretty fun, too. But Sheila has trouble admitting her fears and all the things she can't do. With a little help from her new friends, though, by the end of the summer, she just might be able to overcome her fears and realize that it's okay to not know how to do everything.

Review

Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great is a middle-grade children's book and the second in Judy Blume's Fudge series. It's written in the first-person perspective of Sheila Tubman, a supporting character who was introduced in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Sheila wants to go to Disneyland for summer vacation, but her parents have said no. Instead, they're borrowing a big house from a colleague of her dad in Tarrytown, New York, for the entire summer to have a break from the big city. At first it sounds great, because she'll have her own room and won't have to share with her older sister like she does at home. But then she finds out the owners have a dog they expect them to care for and Sheila is afraid of dogs. Her mom also expects her to learn how to swim, but she's afraid of that, too. Still, she tries to make the most of it, enjoying activities at the summer day camp her parents send them to, and striking up a friendship with Mouse, a girl her age who lives down the road. Unfortunately, though, Sheila is a bit of a know-it-all, who can't seem to admit when she doesn't know how to do something, nor can she admit that she's scared of any of the things that frighten her. But Mouse sees through her facade and likes her anyway. By the end of the summer, Sheila just might find that she actually can do things she didn't think she could and that dogs aren't quite as scary as she thought.

While I'm certain that I read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing as a kid, I can't recall if I ever read Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great, but it's possible. Whether I did or didn't, though, the story didn't seem particularly familiar to me. I came away from reading it having mixed feelings. I had some concerns about the girls writing slam books, which seemed pretty mean-spirited, and how they call one of the girls "fat." I also had some issues with Sheila. On the one hand I related to her fears about various things like spiders, thunderstorms, and swimming. I, too, harbored all those fears as a child and still can't swim even as adult. Dogs, however, were a little different for me. Dogs barking at me never failed to rattle me, but I wasn't afraid to be around nice, quiet dogs like Sheila is. On the other hand, Sheila has a habit of lying about both her fears and her ability to do things, which can lead to trouble and sometimes rubbed me the wrong way. I understand being insecure and not wanting to look silly in front of your peers, but at the same time, I didn't feel like this was a healthy way to handle things. I freely admit that some might find all of this humorous or amusing, but my taste in humor doesn't extend to this type of behavior. Luckily Sheila has Mouse who totally sees through her stories and calls her out more than once. Also, she does learn by the end that she can overcome the things that scare her even though she more or less fights it every step of the way, so there is a good message in there for kids. I just wasn't sure that Sheila was the best role model to deliver it, but it's certainly possible that some kids may relate to her quite well. Overall, even though it won't go down as a favorite, this was still a pretty good book that had some enjoyable parts.

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Judy Blume