Will Sheila Share? Book

SHEILA WON'T! BUT YOU WILL WANT TO SHARE this charmer with your favorite three, four, or five year old...

Curly-headed round-bellied little Sheila, sweet in her overalls and t-shirt, is not one for sharing. Unless you want green beans. It takes a very loved and loving Nana who shares a hug and kiss to change Sheila's ways. Utterly simple, completely disarming, and absolutely true.

Publishers Weekly

The answer to the title question (which also functions as a comic, liturgylike refrain) looks dicey at best. At midpoint, Savadier captures her eponymous heroine in a paroxysm of selfishness: Sheila's face is pink with rage and her eyes wide with greed as she successively refuses to part with a huge ball, a bag of cereal and a plush bunny. But sweetly overstuffed Nana knows how to melt her granddaughter's heart, and while Sheila may not be exactly altruistic by the wrapup, at least she's discovered the joys of playing Lady Bountiful. Savadier's watercolor and ink pictures are particularly energetic this time, bringing to mind the emotional ferocity of Jules Feiffer crossed with the openhearted exuberance of Helen Oxenbury. As with her other not-to-be-missed books on similar themes (No Haircut Today!; Time to Get Dressed!), the author shows a shrewd understanding of how an uncooperative child can unnerve everyone-including the kid in question. Her pithy text and expressive, economical pictures deliver a reassuring response along with solid comedy. Ages 2-6. (Mar.)