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. ( )

Otherwise Known as the Worst Book in the Fudge Series ( )

Fears

Who is Sheila Tubman? Even Sheila isn’t sure. Sometimesshe feels like confident Sheila the Great, and other timesshe’s secret Sheila, who’s afraid of spiders, swimming,and, most of all, dogs. When her family decides to leavethe city for a summer in the country, Sheila will haveto suffer everything from long-eared dogs to swimminglessons to creepy spiders. That’s enough to drive a city girlnuts! If she survives at all, Sheila may be forced to admitthat she’s no supergirl.

The only reason I finished this book was because it is short and I am stubborn.

Listen, I understand kids come in all shapes and sizes, and some are a little messier and more complicated than others, that doesn’t necessarily make them bad protagonists. But when they’re so utterly unlikeable, and there’s no redemption at the end of the book? No thanks.

Sure, Shiela gets the message that being scared is ok, and she admits her fear (in one area) and finds out it’s not so scary after all, and then another thing she’s scared of turns out to also be not quite so scary, but these things don’t stop her from being an insufferable braggart who can’t seem to admit she’s not the best at everything.

I don’t know why she’s learning more from her peers than her parents about life and being scared, it certainly doesn’t make her folks seem all that involved or interested. And in general, no one seems to push back against her pompous behavior, except maybe her big sister. On the one hand Mouse could be seen as a pretty good friend for looking past her ridiculous assertions of her yo-yo prowess and newspaper writing abilities and choosing to be her friend anyway. On the other hand, literally no one calls her out for being a liar and a snot and how is this girl going to know it’s not ok to behave that way? ( )