Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
Encyclopedia
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great is a children's novel published in 1972 and written by Judy Blume
Judy Blume
Judy Blume is an American author. She has written many novels for children and young adults which have exceeded sales of 80 million and been translated into 31 languages...
.
Plot summary
Sheila Tubman's family is planning a vacation, where they leave New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
for the summer to live in suburban Tarrytown
Tarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
. They plan to spend the season in a house that belongs to George Egran, a professor at Marymount Manhattan College
Marymount Manhattan College
Marymount Manhattan College is an urban, coeducational, independent, private, liberal arts college located in Manhattan, New York City, New York with a focus in performing arts. The mission of the College is to educate a socially and economically diverse student body by fostering intellectual...
where her father, Buzz Tubman, works. At first, she is disappointed and disgruntled that they're staying at somebody's house instead of going to Disneyland, but then changes her mind when she finds out she can have her own bedroom (at their apartment, she must share her bedroom with her older sister, Libby, who is fifteen and pretends to be very sophisticated and glamorous.)
Once they get there, Sheila has a rough start. She must face several fears, including spider
Spider
Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
s, thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
s, ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s (when she learns that Tarrytown was where The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820...
took place), the dark, and her two biggest fears: dogs (Professor Egran owns a beagle
Beagle
The Beagle is a breed of small to medium-sized dog. A member of the Hound Group, it is similar in appearance to the Foxhound, but smaller, with shorter legs and longer, softer ears. Beagles are scent hounds, developed primarily for tracking hare, rabbit, and other game...
named Jennifer that they look after for the summer), and water (her parents insist on swimming lessons). She does not like her bedroom at first, since it belongs to Bobby, Professor Egran's tween
Tween (demographic)
A tween is a North American neologism that describes a person who is between the ages of 9 and 12 years old . The term is often described in popular media as referring to a pre-adolescent who is at the "in-between" stage in their development when they are considered "too old for toys, too young...
son, (who has a huge model collection and warns any girls using his room that he will seek revenge on whoever touches them).
Then Sheila befriends a girl her age named Merle "Mouse" Ellis (a.k.a. the Junior Yo-yo
Yo-yo
The yo-yo in its simplest form is an object consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a length of twine looped around the axle, similar to a slender spool...
Champion of Tarrytown), as well as a pair of fraternal twin sisters named Sondra and Jane Van Arden. They attend a cultural arts summer day camp, and enjoy making pottery. Her swimming instructor, Marty, also helps her with lessons, with her even going as far as admitting she is scared to put her face in the water. She pretends to know everything and can be able to do anything when she is with her new friends, but deep down Mouse knows that she is rather fearful. She also attempts to make a camp newspaper, wanting to do everything by herself, but resorts to having to print it via an old mimeograph machine
Mimeograph machine
The stencil duplicator or mimeograph machine is a low-cost printing press that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper....
, and finds it hard work. So she passes the job to two older boys that form committees and have fun with making one, and she feels left out, until she decides to become a weather forecaster (so she can know in advance when a thunderstorm is coming).
Jennifer also makes friends with a male dog, Mumford (called by the family as "Jennifer's Friend"), which makes Sheila even more nervous. They also find out that she is going to have puppies. Libby is excited over this, but Sheila is too nervous about having one in their house. The camp puts on a play of Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
, and Sheila and Mouse help work on the scenery. Libby tries out to get the part of Wendy, but due to her tone-deafness, she winds up playing Captain Hook, with great disappointment.
Libby makes friends with the girl that played Wendy, Maryann Markman, and invites her to sleep over the same night Sheila is having her slumber party with Mouse, Sondra, and Jane. It starts out fun, until they make a slam book
Slam book
A slam book in United States schools is a notebook which is passed among junior high school students. The keeper of the book starts by posing a question and the book is then passed round for each contributor to fill in their own answer to the question.Slam books can also exist in virtual formats...
, which leads into a big fight that involves them trading insults and throwing Bobby's models at each other. When Libby notices this and tells their mom, Jean, Sheila and the others are outraged. After they fix up Bobby's models, they rig a practical joke
Practical joke
A practical joke is a mischievous trick played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or...
involving toothpaste on the toilet seat
Toilet seat
A toilet seat is a hinged unit consisting of seat and lid which is bolted onto a toilet bowl for a flush toilet. A toilet seat consists of the seat itself, which may be contoured for the user to sit on, and the lid, which covers the toilet when it is not in use.If the toilet is located in a home...
, which Sheila winds up sitting on.
When the summer camp ends, they go on a hayride. Sheila is nervous that the horses pulling their wagon might run wild, or that the Headless Horseman would come out and scare them, and the fact that there's a thunderstorm and a full moon (Sheila fears a werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
might come out). Then she must take a swimming test in order to end her lessons. Even though she feels she can't do it the entire time, she passes with flying colors.
Before the Tubmans leave Tarrytown, they have a farewell party, inviting all the friends they made there, including Mouse and her family, Maryann Markman, Marty the swimming instructor, the Van Arden twins, and Libby's new boyfriend Hank Crane. Things go well until Mumford arrives, as does his owner. They tell him that he and Jennifer are going to be parents. Sheila thinks to herself that having a puppy might not be so bad after all.
Sheila learned two things over the summer: It's all right to admit your fears, and pretending to know everything may not be the best choice.
Trivia
- Blume dedicated the book to her father.
- Sheila is also a character in the Fudge booksTales of a Fourth Grade NothingTales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is a children's novel written by Judy Blume in 1972. It is the first of the "Fudge books". It was followed by Superfudge, Fudge-A-Mania and, most recently, Double Fudge...
. Other than brief anecdotes, PeterPeter Warren HatcherPeter Warren "Peter" Hatcher is a fictional character created by American author Judy Blume. The character first appeared in the children's novel Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and in several subsequent Blume stories, most of which focus on Peter's younger brother Fudge...
and his dog, Turtle, are the only members of the Hatcher family to appear in the book. They appear in the first chapter, and are mentioned by Sheila several times in the story. She also briefly mentions Peter's brother, Fudge, though not by name. - The post 2002 reprints of this book have some lines edited and a bit of new content added to update the technology use in it (for instance, record players are replaced with CD players, and the camp's copier keeps malfunctioning, which is why Sheila must use a mimeograph machine, whereas the original had them already still using their mimeograph machine and not having a copier yet).