Scaredy-Cat Elizabeth

Sweet Valley Kids #61

by Francine Pascal

Elizabeth Wakefield is scared. Patty, the new third-grader on the bus, is big and mean — and she's after Elizabeth! Nobody knows why Patty is so nasty, and nobody can stop her. Elizabeth's twin sister, Jessica, tries to help, but that makes Patty act even meaner. It's up to Elizabeth to stand up to the bully. Can she do it?

Scaredy-Cat Elizabeth

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Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

Reviews

[Ruvi Perera · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is about a new girl who shows up at school and she's a bully. She stopped bullying Elizabeth and there is also the science fair at school. The story shows how Elizabeth was nice to the bully in the end and how they became friends.

[Tara Calaby]

A bit of a dated outlook on bullying—the idea that bullies are just unhappy and want to be befriended—but I do appreciate that the kids eventually tell their parents what's going on. Patty seems mean rather than scary, but I guess there's only so scary you can get in a book aimed at this age group!

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well. It’s school science fair time, and Liz, Amy and Julie are working together on a project about spiders. Jess wants nothing to do with it, and I’m with her. But there’s a new third grader in town, Patty, and she’s determined to make Liz’s life horrible 😔 She’s a proper bully, elbowing Liz in the ribs, pulling her hair, horrible stuff. Jess and Steven both try to stand up to her, and Patty one ups them. Liz is miserable and finding less and less enjoyment in life. But when her parents find out, she begs them to let her handle things just a little longer… 🤨 Of course, on a spider hunt she finds Patty crying, and Patty lets slip that her Mum left her with her grandmother and she has no friends. But then she threatens Liz to keep quiet. Then Liz finds Patty trying to destroy their science project, but there’s a spider on her and she’s terrified! Liz gets it off after Patty promises to be nice. And now they’re besties…? 🤷🏼‍♀️ But Liz proves she is not the scaredy-cat!
My rating - 3/10 - Patty was horrible and Liz was miserable. I’m also not sure how realistic becoming friends with a horrible bully is... ?

[patricia clare]

READ WHEN I WAS IN ELEMENTARY BETWEEN AGES 6-10.
REVIEW INTENDED FOR THE FOLLOWING:
1. For parents looking for something to give their elementary grade kids
2. For myself to look back to if I will ever be in need of Sweet Valley recommendations for kids these days who might choose a book over their Ipads or who knows, my future kid might be a reader too
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THIS IS MY FIRST EVER SWEET VALLEY BOOK AND MY ULTIMATE GATEWAY TO READING.
TWO DECADES LATER AND I CAN STILL REMEMBER THE STORY LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY.

This is a story about bullying and being bullied, of being forgiven and for asking forgiveness.
Elizabeth has always been the good kid. Suddenly, Patty started bullying her and going to great lengths just to torment her. Elizabeth was bothered and anxious. However, events happened wherein Elizabeth, together with her friends, learned of why Patty was such a bully and worked through their issues. All is well.

[Sheila Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember the cover just not the story