Leslie

*For information on this character in the cartoon, see Leslie (cartoon).*

 — Leslie in "Leslie"

* Heitz
* McCauley
* Schick
* Brinckloe
* Hockerman

**Leslie** is a character in the *Wayside School* books. She is one of the many students in Mrs. Jewls's class. She is a student with long brown pigtails, which are oftentimes pulled by Paul.

## Appearance

Leslie is a girl with two long, brown pigtails that reach down to her waist. She has five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot, two arms, and two legs. Mrs. Jewls describes her as being "very pretty," but Mrs. Jewls feels this way about every kid in her class. Aside from this, very little description has been given for Leslie, like most of the characters in the *Wayside School* books.

## Personality

In the books, Leslie is depicted as being a fairly clever student. In "Paul," she prevents Paul from pulling her pigtails upon realizing that he'll do it twice every day for satisfaction by screaming a third time unprovoked, sending him home early on the kindergarten bus. In "The Mean Mrs. Jewls," Leslie gets the answers to most of Mrs. Jewls's questions right, and in "Nose," she comes up with the idea to throw a paper airplane down to Louis when Mr. Gorf puts her class in peril. In "Pigtails," she additionally tries to think of various ways to save Paul when he falls out the window, before eventually resorting to using her pigtails to pull him inside.

Leslie can be quick to judge, as seen when she quickly turns sour towards Sammy in "Sammy," when she judges that the kids Louis talks about in "Louis" must be "real lulus," or when she agrees that Terrence should get his punishment in "Terrence." In "Leslie," she calls Louis "crazy" when he offers to cut her pigtails, and she considers Calvin's potato tattoo "stupid" in "Calvin's Big Decision." She additionally feels weirded out by the unusual behaviors of her classmates, such as her bewilderment at the idea of Eric Bacon going door-to-door to collect nail clippings in "Eric, Eric, and *What's-His-Name?*" This facet of her personality is seen most frequently, however, with Paul, who frequently pulls her long pigtails. Her reactions to this are more frequently than not, negative, varying from calling him "gross," to sticking out her tongue, to calling him an "ugly-bug sniffer." The only times she allows it are in "Pigtails," where it is necessary to save his life, and in "Kachooga Boop," where she decides it is a preferable alternative to him holding her hand.

However, upon getting closer to certain people, she can grow to understand their differences, such as her on-again-off-again friend Paul, who is mentioned as being her friend in "Pigtails." That being said, Leslie will make sure she isn't just being taken advantage of by others, as she refuses to let Paul pull her pigtails in the same chapter until he's in a life-threatening situation, but she will occasionally compromise, as she is willing to give Paul the split ends. Leslie is shown to be adaptable, as she has a multitude of friends, including Jenny, Dana, and occasionally Paul.

## Relationships

### Paul

    In the books, Leslie seems to have an on-again off-again relationship with Paul. Paul has a bad habit of pulling her pigtails, which often causes Leslie to be frustrated with or disgusted by him, such as in "Paul" or "Pigtails." While in "Pigtails," it is stated they are friends, she does get annoyed when he requests to pull her pigtail, but she is willing to compromise and give him the split ends when she gets her hair cut. Leslie seems to be willing to take to whatever measures are necessary when Paul pulls her pigtails, as in "Leslie" it is mentioned that whenever this happens, she uses one of her feet to kick him. In "Valooosh," the two dance together, but it seems the "dancing" in question is often just an excuse to beat up classmates, as the students throw each other to the ground and throw balls at each other. While they are seen in casual conversation in one another in chapters like "The Closet That Wasn't There" and "Rainbow," Leslie still has her limits, as she refers to him as an "ugly bug-sniffer" in "Blame It on the Cloud." In "Kachooga Boop," Leslie is shown to tolerate letting Paul grab her pigtails so they don't have to hold hands.

### Jenny

On a few occasions, Leslie is shown to be friends with Jenny, such as in "Deedee," where the two play hopscotch together, and in "Ron," when Leslie rushes over to Jenny to celebrate her winning a round of hopscotch. In "A Story with a Disappointing Ending," Jenny tries to help Leslie when she can't find her pencil, and in "Stuck," Jenny and Leslie join each other for recess, with Jenny getting Leslie "Patches," a combination green-and-yellow ball, from Louis. In "Mrs. Surlaw," the two additionally are seen talking to each other in the library, with Leslie discussing her favorite book and asking if Jenny has read it.

### Dana

Leslie is additionally shown to be friends with Dana on a few occasions. In "Leslie," Dana is one of the students Leslie asks about what she should do with her toes, and in "Calvin's Big Decision," Leslie and Dana trade the jelly beans on their cupcakes. In "Stuck," Leslie joins Dana for recess, and compliments when she gets back at John, and is one of the first to realize her face is stuck, and rushes to get her help from Louis. In "After the Storm," Dana comes to Leslie's defense when Terrence accuses her of getting ground snow in her hair instead of snow from the clump Louis tossed off the roof.

## Appearances

For a list of every chapter and episode Leslie is seen in, see here.

## Trivia

* Leslie is one of the only five students to appear in the play version of *Sideways Stories from Wayside School*. The other four are Myron, Dameon, Bebe Gunn and Rondi.
* While Paul is seen pulling her pigtails in the books, Rondi is seen pulling her pigtails in the cartoon. This most likely makes up for Paul's absence in the cartoon.
* According to the answers of "Report Cards," Leslie considers that the proper response to seeing someone you don't like is "sticking out your tongue," the proper way to show you are thinking is "biting your index finger," the proper way to show you're kidding around is to "grab your ears," and the proper way to show that you are surprised is to "open your mouth real wide." According to Mrs. Jewls, none of these are the right answers for the test, but Leslie is insistent that they are all correct.
	+ In the chapter "A Story with a Disappointing Ending," Leslie is seen sticking her tongue out at Paul after he returns from his trip to Dr. Pickell's office.
* Leslie's favorite book is *The Pig, The Princess, and the Potato*.

## Other designs

Peter Allen design (British edition, 2004)Leslie as she appears in the cartoon. (2005)Kim Jungseok design (Korean edition, 2006)Hillar Mets design (Estonian edition, 2008)Satoshi Kitamura design. (Japanese edition, 2010)Unknown illustrator (Simplified Chinese edition, 2012)Aleksei Bitskoff design (British edition, 2020)Ramona Bruno design (Italian edition, 2021)
## References

1. ↑ "Leslie"
2. ↑ "Sammy"
3. ↑ "Pigtails"
4. ↑ "A Story with a Disappointing Ending"
5. ↑ "Blame It on the Cloud
6. ↑ "Mrs. Surlaw"