Book Review: Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

Genre:
Realistic Fiction, Children’s Spy Novel

Interest Level:
Ages 9-11

Reading Level:
Lexile 760, Grade 5

Book Theme:
Friendship, social alienation, establishing independence

Books with Similar Themes:  
Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead, Bad Girls by Cynthia Voigt

Bibliographic Information: 
Fitzhugh, L. (1964). Harriet the spy. New York: Harper & Row.



Plot:   
Harriet the Spy is the story of an eleven year old girl named Harriet who lives with her parents and Nurse Ole Golly. Her best friends are Sport and Janie. Harriet is especially close to Ole Golly and Sport, while her parents and friend Janie sometimes annoy her. When Ole Golly leaves to get married Harriet is heartbroken, but unsure of her feelings tries to continue on with daily life. Harriet likes to spy on people and has a notebook she carries everywhere to write down her spying observations. She even has her own spying route that she follows every day so she can spy on specific people. Harriet isn’t shy about saying exactly what’s on her mind in her notebook and she learns this has consequences when her classmates discover it. Between her classmates shutting her out and the departure of Ole Golly Harriet becomes very lonely and frustrated with the world. After some coaxing from her parents and a letter from Ole Golly Harriet learns the importance of apologizes and what she has to do to fix the mess she has created.




Review:  
Harriet the Spy is a classic tween story that captures the very essence of what it is to be a tween. The story of Harriet’s daily life shares things like her simultaneous affection for and frustration with her parents and classmates, her budding and uncertain feelings for Sport, her questions about things like love and loss, and her bitingly honest observations of the world around her. She experiences the devastation of losing her nurse and the bitter rejection of her classmates. She is full of questions about everyone and everything. For Harriet the world is a new place every day that can be exciting, joyous scary, frustrating, sad, lonely, or a number of other emotions at any time. This is a great book for tweens because it shares so much of what many of them deal with on a daily basis whether it be socially or on a personal level.
 

Notable Tweens Characters:
Harriet M. Welsch- The main character of Harriet the Spy, Harriet is an aspiring spy learning about the world around her.

Simon “Sport” Rocque- Harriet’s best friend who lives with his single father, a writer who spends most of the day sleeping. Sport takes it upon himself to manage the finances, pay the bills and cook dinner and take care of his father.

Janie Gibbs- Harriet’s other best friend who wants to be a scientist. Janie is obsessed with making explosions and fantasizes about blowing everything up. Harriet gets annoyed with Janie a lot but keeps her thoughts to herself or in her notebook.