Harriet the Spy

Author - Louise Fitzhugh ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Yearling was reviewed on 26-Oct-2008.

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1) Paperback Book Harriet the Spy by Yearling. Eleven-year-old Harriet M. Welsch experiences stormy
days in 6th grade as a result of her habit/hobby/obsession:
writing down her thoughts and observations in a notebook all during the day. Not just on her after-school Spy Route (when she snoops through windows and even sneaks into private homes to ferret out information about her adult neighbors). Oh no, but during the schoolday in her actual classroom--when she should be concentrating on lessons or doing her work. But for Harriet keeping a Notebook IS her work--one which she relishes.

Disaster occurs when her famous notebook accidentally is lost and then read aloud by her classmates, who are anything but flattered or amused by her juvenile commentary. In fact there ensues a nasty social revolt; Harriet is so discomfited by the peer hostility that her desperate parents send her to a professional child psychologist. This rather long YA book is divided into two parts: Book one depicts her critical relationship with her matronly, non-nonsense nanny--Ole Golly. Book two shows the girl without this towering influence in her young life. We sympathize with Harriet´s struggle to accept the sudden loss of this mentor in literature and social behavior. Perhaps she was too dependent on her nanny, but the sidden, harsh separation undermined her foundation of common sense.

This story should appeal to elementary children since it examines group dynamics and school situations. Fitzhugh subtly suggests the importance of writing and the responsibility of authors. How to balance truthful reportage with consideration to others? Are lies justified to recover lost friendships? Is a public retraction too humiliating? Kids will relate to Harriet´s increasing shunning, as well as be amused by her desperate measures to prove herself independent and unbowed regarding her Journaling mania; Harriet learns the Power and the Peril of the Pen!


¤

2) Paperback Book Harriet the Spy by Yearling. I don´t remember how old I was when I first read Harriet the Spy, but I read it and read it and read it. Reading it now with my eight-year-old daughter, I am reminded of what a strong influence this book had on me. I tried to spy like Harriet, and got a stern talking to from my mother not to listen at phones. I ate tomato sandwiches, and occasionally still do! I started writing in notebooks from age 12 onwards. But most of all, I recognized a kindred spirit - a child who was not always kind, felt things deeply, and had plans for the future. I´m sure there are parents who will be put off by Harriet´s self-absorbtion, but remember, she´s 11! And this book is chock full of life lessons: actions have consequences being chief among them.
Plus, you and your child will laugh together!¤

3) Paperback Book Harriet the Spy by Yearling. Harriet the Spy
By Louise Fitzhugh

I have read Harriet the Spy, watched the movie and listened to the book on tape. I don´t seem to tire of this story. My daughter was a writer from an early age, and has been known to carry around a journal, to record events and ideas. We were both devastated when Harriet´s classmates got their hands on her notebook and read about her impressions of them.

If you have a tendency to spy or are curious about the world, you will not be disappointed by Hariet the Spy.

What would you do if someone discovered your secrets? Would you get even? Hide in your room, and never come out? Would you apologize and write good things about people in the school paper?

There was a hard lesson to be learned, but Hariet learned that being so honest doen´t always pay. How about the golden rule?

Jill Ammon Vanderwood
Author: Through the Rug
Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)¤

4) Paperback Book Harriet the Spy by Yearling. Here´s another book from four decades ago that doesn´t hold up well compared to today´s superior children´s books. I was yearning for way more action. And definitely more wackiness. There are a few wacky and clever happenstances yet I wanted more of that and less of Harriet sitting around thinking, complaining and writing, thinking, writing and complaining. The first half of the book was okay, but after that I lost interest. Harriet was not interesting enough, for me anyway, to care about what happened to her. The pages got harder and harder to turn as the book went on.

This is a work of the early 1960s when many people felt suppressed and angry. That anger, for some, turned into selfishness. This attitude found its way into Harriet. She is a selfish and angry brat. (Whether the author was angry or just commenting on society at the time, I don´t know.)

I can only guess that the book´s comment on society at the time is what won it the acclaim that it has gotten over the years. For children and adults of 1964, perhaps it was a groundbreaking, gutsy read. But today, it´s just a story of an angry, self-centered child that is not very interesting nor exciting to read.¤

5) Paperback Book Harriet the Spy by Yearling. If children´s literature was truly given its due, this would go down as one of the Great American Novels. A zany adventure for kids and a brilliant social satire for grown-ups, this novel encaptures the rites of childhood and the life of the upper-class in Kennedy Era New York City. But it for the kids, but be sure to sneak a read for yourself.¤

6) Paperback Book Harriet the Spy by Yearling. Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. In her notebook, she writes down everything she knows about everyone, even her classmates and her best friends. Then Harriet loses track of her notebook, and it ends up in the wrong hands. Before she can stop them, her friends have read the always truthful, sometimes awful things she’s written about each of them. Will Harriet find a way to put her life and her friendships back together?¤

7) Paperback Book Harriet the Spy by Yearling. 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."¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 23-Nov-2008, 04404167959780440416791, 380-710-950-940-840-160-8

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