Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume is a delightful story about a girl named Sheila Tubman who goes to Tarrytown, New York for the summer. Sheila, while being a bit annoying due to her penchant for lying and hating dogs, is at the same time funny and relatable in many ways. I enjoyed the story when I was the age of the character, and I enjoyed it recently when I listened to it again.

Sheila is from New York itself, and for the summer, she goes with her family to stay in the house of one of her dad's colleagues for the summer while the colleague and his family are away. Sheila doesn't like sleeping in a boys' room, but she enjoys making new friends and learning things. I especially liked when she learned about the headless horseman, since that is the area where Washington Irving lived in for some years, and where he got his inspiration for the popular story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow about the headless horseman and poor Ichabod Crane. Sheila learns and grows, and by the end of the book has realizes a few things about honesty and dogs. Children and adults who enjoy reading middle grade books would enjoy this story.