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Heck, sadly for me, I even looked like Harriet. It frightened me.And you know what. If, like me, you find yourself on a journey to reread the beloved books of your childhood then I have a warning for you: Beware Harriet the Spy.As a child, I loved Harriet. I am Ole Golly. The best books for children are often pretty dark, so I guess it shouldn't be a surprise.Very much recommended. I haven't picked this book up at all as an adult. Seriously.
Alienation, bullying, lack of opportunity, class differences, sexism-- you name it, Harriet the Spy has got it. I identified with Harriet. The book is quite a bit darker than I remember. I don't know what I expected to find, but it wasn't this. I am a childless middle aged woman who is given to reading too much and who is blessed with a limited amount of affectionate patience. Which isn't to say it isn't funny and true, because it is. Certainly as a reread, at least.
:D As Levar puts it in "reading rainbow", "You don't have to take my word for it. As adults, well, no problem because we all know what is right and wrong.
Something light and fun, and I'm glad I found it. I didn't know this book is old, unless I forgot it, lol, but my siblings and I went to Barnes & Noble and I wanted a mystery book but that didn't have like murders and such hard topics.
However, I do recommend parents to read this book first before giving it to a child because this book contains some negativity which could give children bad ideas to use, such as bullying, mimic Harriet's negative writing, etc. "Harriet the Spy."This book is a fun and entertaining read.
It's original and enjoyable for people of all ages. and hopefully you do what's right, lol, but this is a good read to pass the time or if you are a book nerd like me.
;)
Harriet The Spy was first published in 1964. Every afternoon Harriet spies on neighbors and observes their foibles. She loses Ole Golly and has to depend on herself for the first time. Harriet M. By the end of the book Harriet is still 11 years old, but the reader will have a strong idea of the kind of honest, admirable woman she will become.Harriet's world seemed strange to me when I first read it, and I suspect many of her other readers and admirers have also found it odd: large private houses and apartments staffed with servants, exclusive private schools, elegant parents who are part of High Society. Welsch lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I loved it when I first read it as a child a few years later, and have always remembered it fondly. Harriet is absolutely honest when she makes a note, and this gets her into trouble when her classmates discover and read her notebook.Harriet The Spy is about growing away from childhood things.
She leads a pampered life with parents who love her but don't spend much time with her. Her primary caregiver is her nurse, Ole Golly, who has encouraged her to write down her thoughts and observations in notebooks which will provide fodder for a writing career. She has to recognize that even though honesty is essential, sometimes you have to lie, too. But even if you don't live in a brownstone on the Upper East Side you'll still find a lot of familiar things in Harriet The Spy: growing up, loneliness, alienation, friendships made and unmade, and hardest of all, learning to accept others' differences.
And I promise your children can handle the heavy parts.Now I'm 28 and this book continues to resonate with me. The characters are flawed, sad, disappointed, ornery, rich, poor, ugly, and completely identifiable.
I remember seeing a 1970's paperback edition of "Harriet the Spy" on a stack of books, and thought the girl on the cover, illustrated in that scratchy, inky style of Fitzhugh's, was the oddest girl I'd ever seen. My mom bought it for about 25 cents.The moment I began reading this book, I knew it was different from the other children's books.
When I was a child, my mother took me to a used book sale because I was devouring books faster than my parents' could afford to replenish them. This woman, Louise Fitzhugh, didn't feel the need to sugarcoat things.
I wasn't sure why, but it even made me FEEL different. Like I was being talked to as if I were an adult.
This book is full of heartache, but it has a lot of happiness and hope in it, too. Rereading it, I've discovered even more depth in the story, but I'll always be grateful that I first read it as a child, when the impact means so much more.And tomato sandwiches continue to be my favorite.
Just a cautionary note to parents. If you want darkness, stimulation, character development, and excellent writing in a completely original imaginative landscape then try the Guardians of Ga'hoole series. Can't we allow them a few years of innocence and fun before the onslaught of the teenage turmoil and adulthood.
We got a few chapters into to before my daughter asked (begged) me to stop reading it. I mean quoting Dostoesky. This isn't a "fun" or innocent book for younger children, as you might imagine from a cursory look, or from what you might glean from the title and packaging.
And some of the effort to introduce complexity comes across as risible. A lot of it is just downright mean, and not in any helpful sense. On reflection, why would we want to introduce young kids to such themes as alienation, existentialism, class warfare, entitlement, and on and on.
Honestly, how pretentious. My 8-year old has read the first seven volumes and can't put them down.
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