Harriet the Spy (Paperback)

by Louise Fitzhugh (Author) "Harriet was trying to explain to Sport how to play Town..." (more)
Key Phrases: Ole Golly, Miss Elson, Beth Ellen (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Ages 8-12. Thirty-two years before it was made into a movie, Harriet the Spy was a groundbreaking book: its unflinchingly honest portrayal of childhood problems and emotions changed children's literature forever. Happily, it has neither dated nor become obsolete and remains one of the best children's novels ever written. The fascinating story is about an intensely curious and intelligent girl, who literally spies on people and writes about them in her secret notebook, trying to make sense of life's absurdities. When her classmates find her notebook and read her painfully blunt comments about them, Harriet finds herself a lonely outcast. Fitzhugh's writing is astonishingly vivid, real and engaging, and Harriet, by no means a typical, loveable heroine, is one of literature's most unforgettable characters. School Library Journal wrote, "a tour de force... bursts with life." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books called it "a very, very funny story." And The Chicago Tribune raved, "brilliantly written... a superb portrait of an extraordinary child." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-Harriet is determined to become a famous author. In the meantime, she practices by following a regular spy route each day and writing down everything she sees in her secret notebook. Her life is turned upside down when her classmates find her notebook and read it aloud!. By Louise Fitzhugh.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Yearling (May 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440416795
• ISBN-13: 978-0440416791
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (149 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,839 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's a girl who leads a life of danger, March 21, 2004

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I have a theory about "Harriet the Spy". I suspect that no adult that read this book once (and only once) as a child remembers it correctly. For example, if you had asked me, prior to rereading it, what the plot of "Harriet the Spy" was, I could have summed it up like so: Harriet the Spy is about a girl who wants to be a spy. She spies on lots of different people and writes in a notebook, but one day all her friends read the notebook and none of them like her anymore. That is the plot of "Harriet the Spy". And I would be half right. Surprising to me, I found I was forgetting much much more.

In truth, "Harriet the Spy" is about class, loss, and being true to one's own self. Harriet M. Welch (the M. was her own invention) is the daughter of rather well-to-do socialites. Raised by her nurse Ole Golly until the ripe old age of eleven, Harriet must come to terms with Ole Golly's eventual abandonment. Ole Golly marries and leaves Harriet to her own devices just as the aforementioned tragedy involving her friends and the notebook occurs. The combination of the nurse's disappearance from Harriet's life (leaving behind such oh-so helpful pieces of advice as, "Don't cry", and the like) and the subsequent hatred directed at Harriet by her former friends makes Harriet into a veritable she-devil. A willful child from the start (punishments are few and far between in the Welch family) Harriet slowly spirals downward until a helpful note from Ole Golly gives her the advice she needs to carry on.

So many things about this book appeal to kids. The realistic nature of peer interactions is one. Harriet randomly despises various kids, even before her notebook is read. After making their lives terrible, she eventually has to experience what they themselves have had to deal with. Author Louise Fitzhugh is such a good writer, though, that even as you disapprove of Harriet's more nasty tendencies you sympathize with her. Honestly, who would want ink dumped down their back? As Harriet observes various people on her spy route, she writes her observations about them as well as about life itself. She hasn't quite figured out the differences between her life and the life of her best friend Sport (the son of an impoverished irresponsible writer) though she does briefly ponder if she herself is rich (the fact that she has her own private bath, nurse, and family cook never quite occurs to her). On the whole, the book contains a multitude of wonderful characters. Harriet's parents are both amusing and annoying, completely dedicated to their daughter and completely clueless about her needs. I was especially shocked by a section of the book in which Harriet asks her mother if she'll be allowed to eat dinner with her parents that night. Gaah!

Accompanying the text are Fitzhugh's own meticulous line drawings. They're fantastic and eerie. Combined with this timeless story (timeless in all the good ways) the book deserves its status as one of the best books for children. Read it again to remember. You'll find a whole lot more than you bargained for.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are you comfortable with books that make you think?, May 14, 2006

By	Alfred Jensen "Human being, doin' what humans do" (Daejeon, South Korea) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I was 9 I was finally moved up to the advanced reading group in my class. In order to catch up, I had to read Harriet the Spy in its entirety over Thanksgiving break. I was extremely dismayed, I had never even seen a book so big, much less read one! But, I devoured it in two days. I didn't live in New York and I had never kept a journal, but everything that happened in the book was completely familiar. It was, I think, the first work of literature I had ever read on my own.

Skip ahead 14 years. I reread this book in my local library on a lazy Saturday afternoon. I loved it, but I can understand the qualms expressed by some parents about the book The question is: What is the point of having children read - is it to present them with 2-dimensional models of correct behavior, or else to provoke their thinking, reasoning, and analytical skills? I think it's very telling that a reviewer who gave this book one star literally threw it into the fireplace - this is the type of book that people who hate books burn.

People criticize Harriet for being rude or mean, but I think they are a little off base there. Harriet is a smart 11 year old, but she is an 11 year old just the same. Assigning adult motives and value judgments to her behavior is flat-out unfair. She's just a kid, and this is how kids behave, not when you're around, but on the playground and in the classroom where they are discovering peer interaction.

In fact, this is a very moral story. Harriet learns that there are reasons for lying - it isn't being hypocritical (as adults often do seem to children) but rather to spare other peoples' feelings - sometimes it's better to be kind than to be truthful. Watch the way Harret interacts with her friend Sport: she learns for the first time to show consideration for other peoples' feelings - not because you will get punished, but because they will get hurt, and you do not want to hurt the people you care about, even though so often you inadvertently do. This is a complicated message that the target audience (kids 9-12) are learning IN REAL LIFE which is why the book resonates with so many readers of that age (and beyond).

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Of course she's a sociopath. That's the message., April 6, 2000

By	Malarkey (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harriet the Spy (Library Binding)

This book is not strictly for children. I saw it as acommentary about alienated rich kids. Harriet usually sees herparents for only a few minutes a day, which would explain her restlessness and lack of integrity. Of course, her nanny, Ole Golly, is a guiding hand, but nannies leave when you're eleven.

Because Ole Golly is the only person Harriet has a semi-healthy relationship with, everything falls apart after she leaves. Though Harriet wasn't an angel before (sneaking into private houses, throwing tantrums,) after Ole Golly leaves she loses any sense of camaraderie she ever had with anyone. Her classmates hate her (they read the notebook, sure, but she never related to them anyway), her parents fail in trying to step in suddenly and spend time with her, and for a large block of the book she is almost without a conscience. She plans out ways to hurt the feelings of each individual classmate, and methodically carries out the plan.

Her classmates, though they now hate Harriet, are just like her. Almost all of them are alienated rich kids. Marion and Rachel play the popularity game, and Janie plans to blow up the world. (We find out in the sequel that Beth Ellen uses shyness to mask rage.) The only somewhat grounded one is Sport, who has a good relationship with his father. This makes him the weird one in the class.

Harriet unconsciously tries to make up for the lack of stability in her life by following routines: wanting to wear the same thing every day, eat the same sandwich, the same cake and milk at the same time each day, and spying on the same people every day. In her notebook she takes notes on these people and tries to find patterns, reasons why they are so neurotic. Still, she can't draw conclusions.

Fortunately, she changes a tiny bit. Harriet even gets a sense that her family is wealthy, and writes in her notebook of how pampered she acknowledges she is.

My interpretation of Fitzhugh's message is this: Being rich does not make your kid a good citizen of the earth. Love, time, and gudiance is the key.